


The Traveler: Part II

by ToothandScale



Series: The Traveler [2]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-06-24 12:05:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15630345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToothandScale/pseuds/ToothandScale
Summary: The continuing story of Iespeth in the world of the Aen Elle.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, the baby is a bit older and I have finally started having some time to write. It might take me a bit more time to get chapters out but I have lots of story to tell.
> 
> Just a bit of info. This part of the story is most likely going to be much more elf-centric and deal with characters I have made up and ones that play more minor roles in the Witcher universe. If you are looking for more hardcore Ciri, Geralt, Yennefer etc. this may not be your bag.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy.

Iespeth stepped out of the portal and looked around. It was night time and the air smelt of honeysuckles and thistle. The gate opened up to a broad, yet short corridor leading out onto a pavilion.  
  
Avallac'h was waiting a few steps ahead of her scanning the vicinity. He glanced at her briefly when hearing her footsteps.  


“So, this is the land of the Aen Elle?” Iespeth asked.  


“Yes,” he replied. “Hold out your weapons,” he said curtly.  


She looked at him cautiously.  


“Why?”  


“The carrying of blades here is...hmm...generally frowned upon,” he explained.  


She sensed the gravity in his words and presumed it meant they were forbidden. “But you carry a sword?” she asked, holding out her bow, quiver, half-sword, and dagger respectively as Avallac’h cast a charm making them invisible.  
  
“So I do.”  


It became clear to her that some here were privileged to carry a weapon and others were not. She belonged to those who were not.  
  
“Come. We should not linger,” he commanded.  
  
The streets were lit with blue spheres of light similar to those the sage had summoned in Tir ná Béa Arainne. The path Avallac'h took was a catacomb of twists and turns and Iespeth could not have found her way back to the gate if she tried. The sage, assisted by his tall stature, took long strides forcing her to often brisken her step so as not to fall behind. She’d only every see him saunter and amble patiently from one point to another. It became clear he did not want to be seen.  
  
After crossing a thin bridge to an island filled with grand houses they arrived at a villa of sorts. Multiple curved roof tops reached up towards the sky as if the abodes had been sprouted from the earth and grown.  
  
Avallach’s home was unique in that face of the house with the entrance was closer to the main road and sported only a quaint garden, whereas the others exhibited trellis’s covered in climbing roses and clematis cutting through exquisitely sculpted terraces.  
  
The door had no handle and was covered in runes burnt into the wood. Avallac'h placed his hand on it at which point the runes began to glow. It opened slowly as if some invisible force was struggling with the weight of the thing. Iespeth turned around once they were inside and watched as the door closed of its own accord. Avallac'h lowered his hood and Iespeth followed suit with her cowl.  
  
“I certainly didn’t expect you to be back so-”  
  
“-soon.” A woman appeared around a corner and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that Avallac'h was not alone.  
  
He moved towards the woman taking her hand and placing a kiss on it. The woman never failed to take her eyes off Iespeth as if she were a venomous snake that might bite.  


“Maondine, this is Iespeth. From the world of the Aen Seidhe. She will be staying here as my…,” he paused for a moment. “...apprentice,” he finished with an air of trepidation.  
  
Iespeth could sense the tension and reached out her open hand in an attempt to be polite. “How do you do?” she asked sincerely.  


Maondine gave a slight snort and chuckle as if Iespeth had broken some strict form of protocol. The woman then raised her eyes at Avallac'h.  


“I had best show you where your quarters shall be,” Avallac'h said, without looking at the woman.  


By the look Maondine gave the emerald-eyed she-elf it was clear she was highly displeased that Iespeth was here. Iespeth looked down as she followed Avallac'h feeling those creeping pangs of loneliness. The sage spoke not a word as they walked through his large abode.  
  
They arrived to a large, dark room which, like most of the house, was open to the outside. Avallac'h summoned a blue ball of light and sent it towards the center of the ceiling.  


“This is where you shall stay. Breakfast is eaten when the sun rises at which time I will fetch you. You are to otherwise stay here and you are not go around the house poking about. I was not prepared for such an arrangement. Yet, it is done. The first thing you should know is that I value my privacy. The second is that you are my apprentice for now. This defines certain and specific accords here among the Aen Elle. Most importantly, you are my responsibility and therefore under my absolute control. You will do as I say, when I say it. Is that clear?”  
  
Avallac'h expected some snide comment or snarky remark, but all he got was a short nod without so much of a glimpse from those emerald-eyes. He felt a hint of remorse having been so curt with her knowing that she must be missing everything that she knew. Yet, he felt it paramount to set some boundaries for her sake, but mostly for his. _This is temporary until I can figure out something to do with her._  
  
She didn’t watch as Avallac'h closed the door when he left and instead immediately surveyed her new surroundings. The room was finer than any she had seen. It seemed as if every artifact, lamp, draping, painting and the amalgam of furniture had been pulled from an art museum’s finest collection. Iespeth walked out onto the balcony and looked out into the night. She saw why his home was so close to the road; the balcony looked out onto a vast garden, hidden from view by any prying neighbors by strategically placed willow and aspen trees. _Privacy indeed_.  
  
Her stomach rumbled with hunger and she wished she had asked for something to eat. It was too late now. She sat down on the edge of the bed now realizing her exhaustion. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep with the burning blue ball of light looming over her bed. She took her boots off and stood on a chair trying to reach the source of light, though she had no idea how this magic worked. _There must be some way to turn it off._ Every time she neared it it seemed to move just out of reach no matter from what angle she came, yet when she moved away it retook its place in the center of the room. She finally gave up exhausted taking the blanket off her bed and shoved it underneath the oak bed frame. She curled up on the floor in her new den where the bulk of the light had now mostly been blocked. She admired the silence until the distinct sounds of her new master and his paramour reached her ears.  
  
The woman moaned loudly in seemingly pseudo fits of joy as if to assert some sort of dominance and make perfectly clear that Avallac'h was hers. _She needn’t exhibit such theatrics. The last thing I’d want is that_ _relic_ _for a bed mate._ Iespeth attempted to bury her head in a lump of pillows to drown out the noise to little avail.  
  
That night, despite her luxurious bed linens, she slept poorer than she had on any forest floor or field. She wished she could say she dreamt of Ciri and Yaevvin, of her small family at Kaer Morhen. Of Iorveth and the others. But a dream implies something pleasant whereas she just saw flashes of their likeness’ close enough to touch, yet still out of reach. Each time she dozed off someone dear to her appeared and then vanished and she awoke feeling more and more lonely.

  
The next morning she was fetched by Maondine, who was wearing a tight fitting pinafore the color of turnips.  


The Aen Elle she-elf scoured Iespeth with her eyes and crinkled her nose as Iespeth answered her rapping on the door.  


“It is time to break our fast. That _thing_ you are wearing is not becoming of someone staying in such a household,” she said quickly and in a dialect as thick as curdled milk. Iespeth wasn’t sure if this was her intent or not. Maondine tossed a stack of clothes onto the bed and starred.  


“Would it be possible if I bathed?” Iespeth asked quaintly.  


Maondine pointed to a deep depression in the stone floor near the balcony and spoke again. Iespeth could only parse that she should be quick about it and the rest of the words were too unclear to decipher their meaning from context.  


She undressed and walked over to the empty bathing pool. She looked for some sort of lever or spout out from which the water might come. She could feel the she-elf eyeing her exposed, scarred back and shoulder as she continued to search. After she came up with nothing she looked to Maondine.  


“How do I get the water in the pool?”  


Maondine looked at her incredulously. “I was under the impression that you are here as Avallac'h’s apprentice are you not?” This time she spoke more clearly and used words she was familiar with.  


Iespeth gave a terse nod.  


“And you cannot summon water for a bath?”  


“No. Should I be able to?” Iespeth answered.  


Maondine raised her eyebrows. “Then you will have to dine feculent as you are.”  


Iespeth looked down ashamed. She dressed herself with the clothes Maondine had brought and followed her.  


“Tis a shame those silks are now too soiled for use. Best be burnt afterwards.” she remarked as she led Iespeth through the lengthy hallways.  


“Will Avallac'h be eating with us?” Iespeth asked as eyes flicking over a tapestry depicting a slew of dancing nymphs.  


Maondine answered her question with a snort.  


“I don’t wish to offend you. The circumstances of me coming were...um.” Iespeth thought it best not to divulge the circumstances of her coming lest she anger the Sage. “It wasn’t my intent to intrude on your marriage.”  


Maondine stopped and turned to her. She placed her hand under Iespeth’s chin and pushed her head sharply upward so as to look at her emerald eyes. They seemed to anger her.  


“I am not his wife. I am something _more_. I am his G’ymar. Do you even know what that is? What that word means? I did not think so. You Seidhe still practice such outdated forms of society. You share so many qualities and customs with humans no wonder you are dying out. I must wonder if you are even pure of blood?” Maondine sneered and then released her.  


Iespeth touched her chin. _Why is she so threatened?_  


Nothing else was said until they reached the dining room where Avallac'h was waiting at the head of a long table carved from the trunk of a fir. He outwardly avoided looking at Iespeth as she sat down.  


Atop the table was an ornately decorated plate of unleavened bread topped with cucumbers, avocado cream, and basil. Next to the bread were oat cakes rolled in chopped dates. Along side the bread and cakes was a basket full of pink and yellow fruits that Iespeth had never seen before. She sat down after Maondine trying her best to be polite. Her best option, she figured, was to mimic the two. The Aen Elle began taking the besmeared bread with a long skewer-like stick so Iespeth followed suite. She was inclined to pick up the food with her hands until the other began cutting it with their knives and forks. She did as they did. Every time she cut and took a bite the two looked at her. It wasn’t until the fifth bite that she realized it was the sound she made that they disproved of. Try as she may she could not cut the bread without hitting the plate with her knife and swallowing was not achieved without the slightest of gulps. Though the others took second and third helpings, Iespeth decided to forgo another lest she endure the piercing glares of the two older elves.  


The meal was eaten in utter silence and took over an hour. Iespeth was accustomed to eating quickly, loudly, and with much conversation. By the time the fruits hit the plates -except of course Iespeth’s not wanting to offend with her deafening eating habits- she resigned herself to say something.  


“So, when will my training begin.”  


Maondine let out an annoyed moan, astonished that the ‘apprentice’ dare to speak.  


“There will be no training,” Avallac'h stated keeping his eyes on his meal.  


“What do you mean? I thought you were taking me on as your apprentice?” Iespeth asked, confused. “ Last night you said...”  


“I know what I said,” he replied after chewing a piece of yellow fruit. “I have rethought the situation and this arrangement is not optimal.”  


“But, but you told Ciri you would keep me safe.”  


“And you will. Be safe, that is. You do not need _my_ protection to be safe here. This is not a land of savages unlike what you are accustomed to,” he said. “In the meantime you will remain with me until I can make other arrangements for you.”  


Maondine hid a large smile behind a silk napkin.  


Iespeth sat back in her chair.  


“Well, these white pitaya’s are splendidly ripe. Splendidly delicious if I may say,” Maondine stated with a grin as she took another one of the pink fruits. She cut off a small piece and placed on Avallac'h’s plate. “You must try some.”  


Avallac'h stabbed the morsel, gave it a sniff and then place it back on his plate along with his fork. Maondine continued to speak in the strang dialect that Iespeth didn’t understand. The words were carefully pronounced as if she hadn’t the pressure of time to exact her thoughts, yet her sentences flowed like the sing-song of a lark with a myriad of phrases whose meaning were unknown to Iespeth.  


Iespeth glared at his abandoned fruit. She felt betrayed. Alone. Though she had had an antagonistic relationship with the Sage on the Continent, she had decided to place her trust in him for Ciri. Because of Ciri. She felt hatred for this place, for the nasty woman sitting across from her, and above all for the Aen Saevherne who had brought her here. She suddenly grabbed as many of the oat cakes and breads with her hands as she could and jumped up from the table, knocking back her chair as she did. On the way out she heard Maondine say something about ‘bad manners’ and ‘Seidhe’. Iespeth made a point to eat loudly and sloppily, leaving crumbs as she go.  


Two weeks went by and every day was the same. Breakfast was at sun up, dinner was at sundown. Every meal was eaten in silence -apart from Iespeth’s loud chewing-, except when Maondine decided to enlighten Avallac'h with the latest gossip from the other G’ymar, with whom she regularly met.  


Iespeth grew tired of eating only plant matter and at one point asked whether they ever had meat to which Avallac'h replied, “The meals we eat here meet all our nutritional needs. Meat is only consumed by those needing higher concentrations of protein.” She left it at that though she may have mumbled something to the extent of his stupid face needing a higher concentration of protein.  


It wasn’t until the 16th day of Iespeth’s stay with Avallac'h, Aen Saevherne of the Aen Elle, that things changed.  


A message had arrived in the early afternoon. The alacrity with which the messenger had arrived suggested something urgent and the somber expression on Avallac’h’s face made clear it’s content was pressing.  


He placed a kiss on Maondine’s hand and apologized for leaving so quickly. He grabbed his staff and gave Iespeth a peculiar look of almost relief before opening a portal and stepping through.  


That evening Iespeth arrived for supper hungry, though not thrilled to be eating kale spread on baked potato paste or whatever unfulfilling meal was on the menu for that night. But when she arrived the large dining table was barren of food save for a single, soiled plate.  


“You were late so I ate without you,” Maondine said, dabbing her mouth with her napkin and smiling ever-so pleased with herself.  
  
“But, dinner is at sundown.”  


“Well, today it was earlier. I do apologize,” the she-elf said flicking her long, straight, auburn hair over her shoulder.  


Iespeth wanted to hit her. She knew Maondine despised her, but never expected to act on it to that extent. But why? Why would this woman feel so threatened? Did being an ‘apprentice’ imply something that she didn’t know? It wouldn’t matter anyways since Avallac'h had decided to rid himself of Iespeth. She’d been on her best behavior since she came here, partly out of respect to Ciri but mostly because of her lack of familiarity of the Aen Elle culture.  


There were questions she wanted answered. Information she needed to collect. All she knew, was that of all the beings she had encountered at least one of these elves was familiar with time and space. And it was from genetics of these isolated elves that she had partially formed her body. Her past self, was after all one of the Alder Folk. It was a start and waiting around politely for Avallac'h to deposit her somewhere meaningless was not acceptable. She would have to learn the extent of this lots knowledge and if not sufficient, she would need to foster their growth as she did once before. She would have to become important. This time would not be so easy though, as she was forbidden – except under the most extreme of circumstances – from using her gift. She would need all her cunning and acuity. But first, she needed something to eat.  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

At some point Iespeth wondered whether Tir ná Lia even had taverns or shops for that matter. Each building, similar to Avallac’h’s home, was open to the elements -of which there were practically none to speak of – and all had a similar flair. The entire city was encased in some dome of magic ensuring a perpetual summer. On a very predictable occasion it would rain or the sky would drop some other form of precipitation. _Is this what the Aen Elle think of as paradise?_ If Iespeth’s calculations were correct there was a high chance of fog this evening. A night for dark deeds and secret rendezvous it seemed. Though her plan for the evening was hardly so ominous.   
  
She had left Avallac'h’s home by way of her balcony and some tied-off bed sheets. She would have used the front door, but since it lacked a door knob – and was instead opened and closed by magic which she was unfamiliar with – she had to find another way out. Just as well, she had thought, that Avallac'h’s companion remain unaware of Iespeth’s night out.  


After turning a corner she heard fervent conversation and saw down the street a large source of light. As she neared, a large terrace came into view where people were sitting, talking, and most importantly, dining. Her mouth began to water as the scent of seared and spiced meat assaulted her nose. Elves finely garbed sat at stone tables enjoying their victuals and drink. Iespeth slowed her step hoping to watch where the food was coming from and what protocol she might need follow to get it. Eventually, a large, muscular elf with long, chatain hair came walking through two menhirs at the opposite end of the terrace carrying a plate of sliced meats. Iespeth lifted her head trying to put out an air of confidence and meandered through the tables of dining elves as if she had been there a hundred times.   


She tried to hide her expression at the realization that her clothes weren’t nearly as exquisite as those around her. The women wore dresses of various cuts and lengths all of which were meant to enjoy the warm climate. The men mostly wore loose fitting tunics and long pants tailored to a perfect fit. Iespeth had on her pants and vest that she had brought with her from the Continent. Though clean, her clothes paled in comparison. They had been tailored to make her look inconspicuous in a world of humans living in poverty.   


To top it off she kept her long, blond waves in a simple braid which hung down her back instead of intricate knots, twists and herringbones,   


She tried to ignore the stares and whispers, but it was obvious they knew she was not one of them. As she passed the large man with the plate of meat she looked up into his glowering face. She opened her mouth wanting to ask “if he had never seen a woman in pants before,” but decided against it not wanting to draw even more attention to herself.  


She passed through the two menhirs and walked along a row of hornbeam hedges to a large counter behind which a man was standing. And behind him a plethora of food being cooked over a large fire.  
  
“What would you like?” the man asked in the Hen Llinge dialect – the dialect of the Seidhe – as she approached. The elf was tall and lean and his unnaturally blue eyes gleamed bright in contrast to his pale skin.  
  
Iespeth looked surprised. “Are you Seidhe?”  
  
“No. But you are. It would certainly be a challenge not to notice.”  


“Is it that obvious?”  


The man looked at her as if to say ‘as plane as day’.  


“I suppose it would be. Are there many Seidhe here?” Iespeth asked.  


“Not one in over many centuries as far as I know. In fact, you are the first one I have ever met,” he replied.  


It then dawned on her that Avallac’h bringing a Seidhe to his world might have more implications than she thought, though to what extent she wasn’t sure.  
  
“How did you come here?” the man asked frankly.  
  
She thought for a moment, figuring it would be best to leave Avallac’h out of this. She could lie, but then she ran the risk of him seeing through it. “I’d rather not say,” she finally answered.  


The man looked at her, tickled. “A first step to integration. The first thing you should know about the Aen Elle; we are a culture of secrets and dishonesty. You might need work on your cunning though, directly stating you wish to keep your secrets does naught for keeping up appearances.”  


Iespeth wasn’t sure if he was mocking her. She wasn’t sure what to say next so her eyes and stomach spoke for her. Behind the counter she saw a cauldron of stew as well as a haunch of mutton hanging over the fire and her stomach grumbled.  


“Do you hunger?” the man asked.  


“Very much so,” she replied. “Might I have have some of the stew there?”  
  
“The daube? It is not for you,” he said bluntly.  


Iespeth began to anger, her hunger making her more on edge. “Why not?” she demanded.  
  
The man smiled, amused. “You are certainly untrammeled by custom. I find it rather refreshing. But we are an unchanging folk. Besides, it would be only the greatest of us to force a change, not a simple victualler such as myself.”  


She looked at him perplexed.  
  
“The flesh of animals is only meant for soldiers. And the finest of meat,” he said indicating the mutton, “is reserved for those serving in the Dearg Ruadhri. The rest of the vittles, I am afraid, I had not planned enough for an additional mouth.”  
  
That loneliness began to creep up again. She fought the tears and tried to settle her empty stomach. She was certain he merely did not want to serve a Seidhe at his establishment.  


“Like I said, very little changes here. The same thirty elves come here every night and eat the same quantity of food. The meals change, but little else does. Waste is highly frowned upon. But, I can see you are hungry.” He strode over to a pack tucked away behind the counter and pulled out a few small packages whose wrappings were made of large leaves and tied off with twine. “You may have my supper.”  


She couldn’t believe it. She was certain he wished to be cruel as well as patronize her with a lecture about his culture to boot. His generosity towards her made her feel less horrible. He laid out the three parcels in front of her and opened them. It was a simple meal of bread, fruit paste and blanched almonds, but she was not feeling picky.  


“That is the first act of kindness I have experience here since...well, since I arrived,” Iespeth said.  


The man leaned forward onto the counter directly across from her and spoke quietly. “I do not know in what way you find yourself. And I will not ask, as your secrets are your own. There are many here that do not like the Seidhe. I suppose I am too young to remember why our tribes split in origin. A grudge left to fester for over a millenia. I don’t really see a difference, truth be told. And I would certainly like to smell the winds of change. Besides, you seem nice, if not peculiar.”  
  
Iespeth smiled genuinely for the first time since she had arrived. “The same could be said about you. My name is Iespeth by the way.”  


“Pleased to meet to you Iespeth. My name is Memthir. Though I am called Mem.”  
  
Iespeth reached out her hand and Mem took it. He felt familiar once she touched his skin. _I know this._ She thought back to all the elves she had touched. _The big one. In Dol Blathanna. What was his name?  
_

“Do you have a brother? I’ve met someone like you,” Iespeth asked.  
  
“I would not know. I was raised by the _Erzieher_. Those of us who exhibited no particular talents that were useful to the state were handed over to the _Erzieher_ to be raised to serve in a more general manner. Our lineage was kept hidden, from us and from others.”  


“But why?”  


Mem shrugged.  


“And the others. The others with a specific talent? What happened to them?”  
  
“They became apprentices under the tutelage of a master. The greater the talent of the child, the greater the master they were honored to serve.”  
  
“So either way, they were taken away from their parents and given to some-” _  
_

_Clunk!_  
  
Neither had noticed the large man with the chatain hair approach the counter.  


“I shall take my second helping.”  


Mem immediately took the man’s plate which he had loudly placed on the counter top and began carving off meat.  


_A soldier. Of the Red Riders. Dearg Ruadhri._ Iespeth had gathered as much since he was getting the finer of the meat. She tried to avoid eye contact. He looked directly at her, not even pretending to hide his stare. After a few minutes of awkwardness Iespeth turned to him and smiled.  
  
“I did not realize that we were replacing the humans with ‘dilutes’ to take over the mundane tasks,” he finally said in a matter-of-fact tone.   


Iespeth looked into his mauve colored eyes trying to determine if he was trying to insult her. She’d prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt in case it was merely a misunderstanding as it had been with Mem.   


“At least they will be much more pleasant to look at,” he added.  


She looked at Mem hoping for support, but he kept his eyes down and away from the man as if to show subservience.  


“Seems like an edict I would have known about. We do not ride nearly as much since many of our navigators were lost to us,” he continued sounding a bit sorrowful. He looked her up and down. “How base you must be. Still, so many questions to be answered,” he put his fingers to his temple. “There are only a fistful of mages left capable of travel to the other worlds. Who brought you here?”  


“Perhaps I got here by myself,” Iespeth replied haughtily.  


The man laughed making it clear at her expense. “Was it Yurk’e? Perhaps Alaise?”  


Iespeth merely pursed her lips. She needed to find a way out of this. She was beginning to get the feeling that this may not end well.  


The man kept listing names and watching to see if her eyes might give away something.  


“Cal’ed, perhaps she we might respect her wish to decline an ans..,” Mem tried to intervene but was quickly shut down when the man told him to keep his mouth shut.  


“I doubt they would have just brought you here and let you roam around, whoever it was. It would only be responsible of me to return their property.”  


“I think, as someone who is owned by no one, I am perfectly capable of deciding where I go when I want.” Iespeth got up to leave and for a moment thought she was getting away. As she got out of eyesight of the vittlery she heard him call after her. Fog had begun to permeate the city, providing Iespeth with more than the cover of darkness. She began to pick up the pace and Cal’ed followed suit.  


“Do not leave when I am talking to you!” He grabbed her by the arm, finally catching up. Iespeth didn’t think. Flight was no longer an option. She wheeled around and launched a fist high up into the air striking him just below his eyes. He let go of her and felt his nose. Blood was trickling out of one side. He seemed startled but hardly in pain.  


“The cat has claws,” he said with a smug smirk. He grabbed at her again. This time she pulled her dagger she had hidden in her boot and slashed at his face. The cut wasn’t deep since Cal’ed had pulled away out of trained reflex, but the wound still must have hurt. Iespeth held up the knife ready to use it again.  


Cal’ed touched his face and looked at the blood. He breathed in deeply and spoke in a low, dangerous tone. “And this is why we don not allow the rabble weapons. Too eager to use them.”  


He struck at her. Iespeth dodged – though barely – and used the opportunity to slash at him again. As soon as she had her arm extended she realized her mistake having let her weapon get too far away in an attempt to hit its target. She felt a massive hand clamp down on her wrist and twist painfully until she was forced to let go with a screech.Cal’ed yanked her to him and took her other free hand.  


“End this struggle. You cannot win.”  


“Let go of me!” Iespeth demanded and used his own hand wrapped around her left wrist to slam down on his hand wrapped around her right. At the same time she brought her heel down as hard as she could onto his right foot. He let go for a brief enough moment for her to pull away from him. She couldn’t win this fight, but maybe she could escape it. She needed to get some distance from the man. She threw the Aard sign at him and to her surprise he countered it with some magic of his own. Though certainly not untrained in the martial arts herself, Iespeth was simply no match for a soldier with centuries of battle experience. She put as much power into her legs as she could and tried to run again, yet her head was quickly jerked back as Cal’ed had her by her braid. He began to lift her up by her hair. She couldn’t believe how strong he was, holding her with one arm. She struggled and flailed grasping at his hand trying to extricate herself. He cocked his head and looked at her dangling as an angler might look at a fish hanging on a line.  


Tears ran down her cheek. She was scared. “Let go,” she told him once more.  


“Yield,” he said in a deep voice.  


Pride tugged at Iespeth’s emotions. She would not yield. She looked to the ground and saw her dagger lying there. If only she could teleport it. So elementary it would be to send such a small, simple, metal object from the ground to exactly where it needed to be. Decomposing its very matter and reassembling it in her hand. _Only in cases of eminent termination._ But that part of her lying deep inside, in the depths of her subconscious, forbade her. S _he_ knew she was in no mortal danger, so her power remained dormant. If only she knew other forms of magic.  


It dawned on her that she of course knew one spell. Aard. She had just used it. The witcher Lambert had taught her how to make a sign that compressed the air in a certain radius and released the energy targeted in the direction the caster chose. He would have scolded her having referred to it as magic. Call it what they wanted, it was still a mild for of magic. But could it be used in reverse?  


Iespeth concentrated for a moment and ignored the pain in her scalp. She made the sign in reverse; her hand and fingers beginning where they would end and ending where they would begin. She felt the air around her expand all the way to her dagger. With a snap and contraction, her hand now had a weapon. Cal’ed held her like a snake handler would hold a viper almost rendering her blade useless. She cut hard and fast at the base of her braid. She landed in a crouch and used her small size in comparison to his to her advantage. She cut at his calf feeling the metal tear through the elf’s flesh before he could bend over.  


“Ysgarthiad!” he bellowed.  


Iespeth felt a powerful force launched her into the air. Whether he had thrown her with a spell or kicked her hard in the chest she wasn’t sure, but she wouldn’t waste this opportunity – now having a good amount of distance between her and her assailant – to flee. Holding her aching chest she quietly melted away into the dark fog of Tir ná Lia.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Alaise came to his private chamber through a series of secret passageways in the palace. A portal would have been simple enough yet not nearly as discreet. Their bond was one they had kept secret since shortly after their birth. She had the talents most coveted by the Aen Elle and when she reached the appropriate age she was sent to train with a master. When it became clear that her brother had no such talents he was left to his own devices and their parents erased his lineage out of embarrassment. She was granted the title _aep Eichrean_ to honor her lineage and demonstrate her parents’ ability to produce useful blood. Her brother was left with a single name; Ge’els, plain and simple.

This was a time before the human conflict, before the Aen Elle had begun to ‘strengthen’ their race and choose which elves would be best suited to breed. A time when such information was easily modified or forgotten.

Ge’els was lucky that he had always been exceedingly clever of which was evident by how far he had come. Though Alaise might have had the ability to create long range portals – through which only two or three people were able to pass – her ability to read and predict people had not come as naturally to her. It was with his cunning guidance that she had positioned herself decently among the Navigators and held the title of Aen Saevherne.

_First notch._ She slid her slender hand along the cold, stone wall of the corridor underneath the palace. One had to feel their way through the labyrinth as various runes and spells prevented light from penetrating the darkness. When her brother had become king he retained his residence in the Moon Palace because of the labyrinth underneath; a quick way in and out only if one knew where to go.

_Second notch_. She knew her brother wished for her counsel. He would want to know if she had any insight into recent events. Events which she herself was also highly intrigued by. The truth was that she was just as surprised at the appearance of a Seidhe and wondered if this information was new to him as well.

_Third notch._ The lever was about three hand-widths further. It was hidden behind a reticulum of cob webs and felt warm, soft, and sticky to the touch, like a swarm of maggots feeding on a severed cow tongue. Whoever had built this labyrinth had ensured that anyone reaching their hand in would retract it with a jerk instead of assuming it was a lever. Despite knowing this, the king’s sister’s stomach lurched every time she reached her hand in and pulled.

The passage opened up to a slim, narrow stair case with steps barely the length of her feet. She shimmied up not even letting her heels hit the stone. As she stepped through the mirror into Ge’els’ bedroom she saw him turn away from the glassless window. Some mages cast one-way charms on their windows so that it appeared from outside that one could peer into the room, but the events going on inside were in fact unseen. She had the ability to cast such a charm, but with proper knowledge there where always ways around such a spell. Besides, the mere existence of such a illusion cast suspicion. Instead, she knew exactly where to stand to keep out of view from the outside.

“Thank you for coming,” he said unhooking his fingers which had been laced together behind his back.  
  
Alaise smiled warmly at him. “I wish I had more to tell you. This scandal has all equally a stir.”

Ge’els nodded in understanding. “And the Aen Saevherne?”

She cocked her head. “The few that I have happened upon say little.”

“I thought as much. Feigning ignorance in the hopes that another betrays information. You sages are a tricky lot,” Ge’els sighed as Alaise smirked. “I do not enjoy shooting at a precise target in the dark. When they found her she was sitting in the Blade alley. Do you know the one? Does not matter. Yes, she was sitting there fumbling her butchered hair. Cal’ed has put forth a formal complaint did you know?”  
  
Ge’els rubbed his chin with the tips of his fingers for a bit pondering. “That she was apprehended freely, went willingly with the Vigil, what does that tell us?”

Alaise thought for a moment. He liked to quiz her like this. “That she did not get here of her own accord. And she has no way of leaving. No where to go. Most likely.”

He nodded. “Most likely indeed. So many questions. So much is unclear. Who brought her here? Why did they bring her? I think a private hearing is most fitting, wouldn’t you agree?”

Alaise tipped her head slightly agreeing with his rhetorical question.

***  
“It is time,” a large elf informed Iespeth as he lowered the enchanted barrier. She felt the magic dissipate and stepped through the doorway of her “jail cell” – if one could even call it that. She’d spent the remainder of the night after her ordeal in a rather elegant room with three, large, open windows made up of basalt with silver woven throughout. Her bed, though a single, was covered in silk sheets and sported a pillow filled with “tree wool” as the Aen Elle had called it. She had been given a small breakfast of toast and avocado which hardly satiated her before she would go to her judgment.

She was escorted by two tall elves whose hair was long and slicked back with a sweet smelling grease so as to stay out of their face. They wore fitted scaled armor which shimmered green in the light that permeated the palace.

  
Iespeth expected the most regal of halls and grandest of thrones surrounded by a retinue of seneschals, guardsmen, heralds, chaplains and other members of a royal court. She wondered if her judgment would be put to a vote or perhaps her punishment be carried out for all to see. To her surprise it was nothing of the sort.

She was led to a quaint bower tucked away in a palace garden covered by climbing roses interlaced with sweet honeysuckle. There, stood a man highlighted by crepsucular rays, tall – like all the Aen Elle – and wearing an intricate, cream colored, asymmetric tunic held closed by a crimson sash. He held his hands behind his back as he looked out over the city. Unlacing his fingers he turned to her as she approached. He looked at her and one side of his mouth tugged into a smile, as if a vague recollection crossed his thoughts. One of her escorts handed him a rolled up and sealed parchment, which, with nary a glance, he placed on a travertine pedestal table. Upon it was also a crystal carafe containing a sparkling substance and along side it multiple vials filled with liquids of varying colors.

“Welcome,” he began.

Iespeth looked around suspiciously. The king wafted his hand at the guardsmen beckoning them to leave.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked.

“I believe I know what your station is, but as to who you are I cannot say,” she answered timidly. “You are the king of the Aen Elle,” Iespeth continued.

Ge’els swayed his head from side to side. “In a sense. A more appropriate term might be leader supreme, but if you are more comfortable referring to me as king, you may do as such.” He subtly grinned .

“As I assume you’ve gathered, not being familiar with Aen Elle custom, I am not quite sure how to address you. Would you be kind and enlighten me?” Iespeth tried her damnedest to be polite and speak eloquently as she suspected everything she did and said, every gesture and intonation was being observed and heavily weighed.

“You may address me as Ge’els. We are not as pompous as humans as to insist on reminding everyone constantly who is king,” he informed her. “And how may I address you?”

Iespeth took a quick breath noting the lingering petrichor from last night’s showers. “My name is Iespeth.”

“Iespeth. What an unusual name. Certainly not of Ellyllon dialect nor any Hen Llinge name that I am familiar with.”

“It was the name that was given to me,” she retorted.

“So it is.” Ge’els smiled as if amused. He gestured toward a chair.

“Care for a drink?” Ge’els asked lifting the carafe and pointing it at a goblet sitting in front of her.

Iespeth took a seat and eyed the container suspiciously. “What is it?”

Ge’els began to pour some of the clear, bubbly liquid into Iespeth’s cup. “Why, its water of course. And here we have fruit extracts to give it a more interesting flavor. Raspberry, apricot, mango, and this one I believe is gooseberry.”

Iespeth took a vial of the mango, curious as to what it tasted like. The water fizzled and swirled with shades of opaque vermilion as the fruit essence mingled with the pearled liquid.

Ge’els also took a vial of the mango. “Ah, you have good taste,” he said as if to flatter her. He took a sip of his beverage and Iespeth followed.

She closed her eyes as the sweet drink covered her tongue and trickled down her throat. When she opened them Ge’els was sporting a smile of approval.

He took another sip and maintained an auspicious gaze on the prisoner.

Iespeth opened her mouth to speak and immediately closed it not sure of what to say.

“You need not fear me,” he asserted with an candid expression. Despite his assersion Iespeth remained tense.  
  
“Our world is much different than the one you are used to. I suppose you were expecting a pillory and a knout to the back or at least a dark, dank cell crawling with rats? Perhaps we would feed you on bread and sewage water or just have starved you till you confessed? Hmm?”

She glanced into the king’s eyes and nodded.

Ge’els retained his poised smile and posture.

“Well, I can assure you, our version of law and order is much different than the savage place from which you come with all its needless violence. My task is not to coax a confession from you and dole out punishment, but rather access the incident and optimize fairness for both parties. After all, is that not a component of a righteous state?”

Iespeth remained suspicious.

“I believe you mistake my pellucid composure for devious intent. Still, I know as well as anyone though that words cannot build trust. Only actions can. So let me at least be frank. The man you injured, Cal’ed, was performing his duty attempting to bring in a stranger to our lands so as to ascertain their reason for being here. You can, I hope, understand the peculiarity of a Seidhe simply appearing, casually, at a frequented eatery. There are only a very few of us who have the ability to travel to and fro. Where was I? Ah yes. Said Seidhe attacked Cal’ed, soldier of the Dearg Ruadhri, causing bodily harm. Though not permanent, we as a people abhor senseless violence. We do not believe in punishment per se, but rather in reeducation and reintroduction into society. I dare say in your case eduction might be a more appropriate term.” Ge’els paused for a moment, wet his palate with his mango flavored water and continued.

“If I were to hear your version of events might it go something like this? You wandered the streets of Tir ná Lia in a state of hunger till you found the ‘The Rigid Willow’. Strange name for an eatery I am aware. Seems more appropriate for the name of a brothel – of which we have none – but I digress. A strange man attempted to apprehend you and aggressively grabbed you thereby forcing you to defend yourself, violently if necessary. You could not know what his intent was. The situation escalated and now here we are. Does that sound about right?”

“Y-Yes. That is-”

She stopped not sure of how to continue. Ge’els held up a hand indicating there was no need.

“You must be hungry? I think it best we continue over a bite to eat wouldn’t you agree?”

“I would like that,” Iespeth replied. The king smiled signaling he was pleased. At the wave of his hand various elves appeared carrying dishes laden with fine foods. Iespeth’s eyes lit up as she saw the first dish; a silver platter with whole trouts seared in butter and covered in toasted almonds. She surveyed the now filled table and marveled at the compote with its contrasting deep red of the rabbit in its white roux; a soured roast drowned in a thick, brown sauce; a flour-crusted game hen sitting atop a nest of thinly wedged potatoes fried to a crisp. The smells pleasantly assaulted her nose.

Ge’els cut the roast and put a slice on his plate. He scooped a round, white potato dumpling along side it and smothered both in sauce.

Iespeth hesitated to serve herself. “I thought the flesh of animals was only for warriors.”

The intensity of Ge’els seemingly permanent smirk deepened. “Right you are!” He looked carefully at her starting with her sculpted arms and working his eyes towards her bow-callused fingers. He demonstratively served her a larger portion than his own. She smiled for the first time understanding his gesture as a compliment. He leaned forward closely indicating the revelation of a secret. “But don’t tell anyone, I am no warrior, I merely enjoy meat.”

Iespeth began slowly, immensely timid of making a sound with her utensils and Ge’els, as he had done since she arrived, observed her.

Suddenly, she heard the king make a loud scrape of the knife against his plate as he cut through the morsels. He chewed such that a faint smacking sound could be heard. She wasn’t sure if this was intentional or his natural way of eating, but began to relax and finally ate with haste so as to satisfy her hunger. Iespeth stopped herself from taking a fourth portion worried that she might suffer from a belly ache as she knew that her talk with the king was far from over.  
  
The king stroked his belly indicating he was full and steepled his fingers as the table was cleared. “Absolutely splendid, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes, it most certainly was.”

“The dumplings could have been a whiff more moist. And the-”

“I’m sorry but am I not here to be interrogated?” Iespeth boldly interrupted.

“Do I detect a shadow of impatience in your face?”

“No. Just nerves I suppose.”

“Are you not enjoying yourself here?”

Iespeth coyly smiled and sighed.

“I am. It’s certainly a pleasant change from where-” Iespeth paused for a moment and Ge’els raised his eyebrows in interest. Iespeth remembered something that Avallac’h had told her. An apprentice implies ‘certain and specific accords here among the Aen Elle’. She was unsure of the details, but she hoped the title of ‘apprentice’ afforded her at least some standing. And if not that it would at least prevent Avallac’h from depositing her somewhere if she were to make it common knowledge.

“Go on, out with it my dear. You have nothing to fear.” 

“I suppose it wouldn’t remain a secret for long. I came here as an apprentice to a mage. Although I believe he refers to himself as Aen Saevherne.”

The creases along Ge’els’ mouth increased in intensity. “And by what name does this ‘Aen Saevherne’ go by I wonder?” He had already guessed as to who had brought her here the moment he saw Iespeth’s face, but he wanted to hear it from her lips.

“Avallac’h.”

Ge’els almost could not contain himself. He almost felt sorry for the girl. She must have been ignorant about so many things. Her naiveté was clear in not being aware of how known Avallac’h was to the Aen Elle. Every one knew Crevan Espane aep Caomahn Macha. Secondly, she must have been unaware that Lara Dorren – if she even knew who Lara Dorren was – whom she greatly resembled was once the great love of her master. _So the Fox has found himself a toy to play with._ _This should be fun.  
_

“Is he known to you?”

Ge’els smirked deeply.

“Oh. I take it then, that he is greatly known here. Of course. Why wouldn’t he be?” Iespeth chastised herself.

Ge’els leaned over and put his fingers under her chin encouraging her to look at him. He stared into her emerald-eyes admiring their beauty and resemblance to the Elder Blood. “You could not have known. There is much you could not know.”

He stood up from his chair and gestured for her to remain seated. “By law a master is responsible for the actions of their apprentice. Whatever judgment I were to pass on you should be carried out by Avallac’h himself. But I know he cannot do this. He cannot because he is not here and I know this because I am the one who sent him away.”

“I suppose we are at an impasse then,” Iespeth said in sarcastic triumph.

“On the contrary. I am a man of solutions. I think it would be most fitting as your judgment for you to be exposed more openly to our culture. Avallac’h has always been the secretive sort and I dare say he would not expose you of his own accord. Still, my word is law. But I am not without understanding. You must have a hunger and curiosity about our culture, otherwise you would not have ventured out on your own I suspect. Therefore, it would bring me great pleasure to satiate that curiosity.”

“So you would be caring out my ‘punishment’ instead of Avallac’h?”  
  
Ge’els nodded.

“I would enjoy that immensely.”

“Good. Then you shall stay here till your master returns.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. The kid started crawling and now walking and I am so exhausted after he goes to bed. Also, Kassandra from AC:Odyssey may have distracted me too. :P

Her hair had been trimmed and washed such that it nicely framed her face. She was given new clothing fitting that of a guest of the palace. The deep green bateau dress ended just above the knee and was significantly more modest than what most of the women wore. Iespeth suspected that those who dressed her found her scares too offensive to be seen while parading around with the king. They had also donned her face with make-up which never lasted long as she could not refrain from touching her face. On the third day the she-elves that helped her dress in the morning refused to apply any more as Iespeth always ended up looking like her eyes were melting out of her sockets.

 

Ge’els paraded her around Tir ná Lia. He showed her the beauty of elven architecture: palaces like fragile bowers, despite being constructed from marble and alabaster, terraces jutting out from minarets resembling water lilies sticking up from the water. Delicate bridges suspended above the river Easnadh like festoons of ivy. Each architectural wonder, designed with aesthetics and harmony in mind, had a story, every one of which Ge’els revealed Iepeth.

  
She liked the king. His voice was soothing and he had natural talent for stimulating conversation. She hadn’t felt so at ease since her time with Yaevinn and his band of Scoia’tael, who routinely shared stories and conversed late into the night. At first she thought it suspicious that a king might pay so much attention to one meaningless Seidhe and was careful with what she said, but she slowly began to believe in the genuine kindness of this man.  


They bonded over their shared lack of family. Iespeth merely shared without detail that she had lost hers and the king commiserated by explaining he was an orphan.  
  
They also discussed philosophy and principles of law and what is necessary for the existence of a righteous state. “The very essence of Aen Elle legalistics”, he had said. “It is the responsibility of the state to ensure citizens understanding of their rights and obligations to state. Without such”, he explained avoiding confusing legalese, “one cannot be expected the follow the law and therefore cannot be punished should a law be broken”. They eventually delved into more specifics, particularly ones pertaining to Iespeth. One bit caught her attention in particular.  


“An apprentice is duty bound to their master and under their complete control until their training is completed.”  


“Well, that’s unfortunate,” she declared, her disappointment obvious.  


“No law is absolute. There are exceptions, conditions in which a new arrangement might be met,” Ge’els explained. Iespeth’s sigh of relief was noted by the king. “But Avallac’h’s abilities as an Aen Saevherne are unsurpassed. He has produced the finest mages the elven folk have ever known,” to which Iespeth frowned.  
  
On the fourth day he took her to the _Gardd Cerfluniau_ ; a conservatory of sculptures of prominent figures of the past.  
  
"This one is my favorite." said the king stopping in front of the statue. “It was a figure of a shorter elf, modestly carved holding a ledger and a quill.  
  
"What draws me to his likeness is what the sculptor very much captured. Tell me, when you walked in here which figures caught your eyes first?

  
Iespeth glanced around the garden. "I suppose that one there, the armored king atop his horse."  
  
"Indeed. Many rulers insist on their likeness being made with a flare of grandness and an inflated air of command. But not Niadhal. He was the embodiment of subversion. Ah, but subversion requires the art of subtlety which most kings lack. Neither gifted in magic, nor talented on the battlefield he used his cunning to achieve great things. He set the stage for his own people to reach their apex.”  
  
Ge’els moved towards the statue and placed a hand on its base.  
  
“He was wise and foresaw that leaving reproduction up to chance would be to our detriment considering our low birth rate. He introduced the Maxim of Genetic Enhancement. It was of course voluntary seeing as it was more of a philosophy rather than an edict. It became extremely popular. Since children are an extension of oneself, parents long for their offspring to reach their full potential. But what if one could also genetically optimize that by consulting experts? Our intelligence quotient increased by two standard deviations with a handful of generations.” Ge’els stood there proudly admiring the statue.  
  
Iespeth eyed the figure with scrutiny, not sure whether he should be considered great in the long scheme of things.  
  
Ge’els turned and took Iespeth’s hands. He held them close to his chest. She felt warmed by his touch.  
  
“Come. We mustn’t be late.”  
  
“Late? For what?”

“For something I am positive you will enjoy.”  
  


They sat beneath a hibiskus-laced pergola to shade them from the sun. It was set apart from the marble benches the other elves sat upon.  
  
Iespeth could hear the musicians plucking and tuning their instruments above the murmur of the throng of elves that had congregated for the performance. A few key members - with their due appurtenance of clothes and cushions- were introduced to Iespeth and she had been sure to touch every single one. The perpetual state of summer that Tir ná Lia seemed to be in ensured its inhabits to garb themselves bearing adequate amounts of skin making Iespeth’s curiosity easily satiated.  
  
The king stood after a while and the cacophony of voices quieted down. All eyes were now on him.  
  
“My dearest of faithful subjects. Tonight is a very special occasion. I have the privilege and honor” – he said with a mischievous smirk – “of introducing a most important guest to our humble home. It has been years since we’ve had an addition to our ranks and who better to choose such an addition than our very own Avallac’h, Aen Saevernhe. Sadly, he could not be here tonight, so I have taken it upon myself to act as guide to the lovely Iespeth of the Aen Seidhe, apprentice.”

Iespeth took the protracted hand of the king and stood up blowing short wisps of hair out of her eyes. She could feel the heat in her cheeks and hoped she wasn’t too red.  
  
The crowd turned their eyes from the king to emerald-eyed elf. All inquisitively studied her and she heard the occasional whisper. She wanted to retreat to her seat but Ge’els stood there holding her hand as if insisting she allow them to inspect her. After a good while when he was satisfied he released her hand, made himself comfortable, and motioned for the performers to begin.  
  
The musicians plucked and strummed all in perfect synchronization with each other as if they had performed the same song thousands of times. The singer was tall and slim with a strip of pale blond hair slicked back over the length of his head. His tenor voice permeated the venue as if enhanced by a spell. Iespeth found the lure of the notes quite alluring but could not understand the meaning. She leaned over to the king just enough for him to hear her whisper. “What are they saying?”  
  
“Hmm? Oh.” The king lazily answered after pulling himself from his dozed-off state. Once stirred he moved close and translated into her ear.  
  
_‘_ _Dark clouds drift within.  
The longing lures  
pulls my mind  
Will you carry me?  
I want to go  
  
__F_ _air foal, I bid you  
Sacks rich with gold of the fields  
Fare swiftly on flying hoofs  
Carry me, and I promise you  
Ride out...’_  
  
The song continued and the king continued to translate, but Iespeth was no longer paying attention. She looked out into the audience and spotted a familiar face. It was Cal’ed, the one who had attacked her a few nights ago. A few tears laced their way down his face. Iespeth wondered if this song had personal meaning to him. She found the soldier looking very disarmed, dabbing his moist eyes and felt a weight of anger lift from her shoulders.  
  
Iespeth turned to look at the king as the song ended with an instrumental fade to silence.  
  
“Did you enjoy it, my tulip?” he asked with sleepy eyes.  
  
“Yes, I very much did. What language was that? Your dialect is not so different that I shouldn’t be able to understand at least a single word.”  
  
“It is the Laith aen Undod. A mostly forgotten language from before the Migration.”  
“The Migration?”  
  
“Mmhmm. Shhh. The next ballad begins.” He remained close to her ready to translate.  
  
The next song began with low tones which seemed to come from every angle although the musicians were in front of them. This time, a woman with long, dreaded, black locks wrapped in a colorful scarf began to sing. The king spoke the meaning into Iespeth’s ear.  
  
_‘_ _She has long been weak  
and it is a powerful wasting sickness;  
she does not sleep at night  
and she is as one possessed.  
  
Runes have been carved  
and it was a farmer's son  
not far from here __did he do this_ _,  
and since then it is much worse than before.’  
_  
At that point, dancers came out and twirled to the tune. They bent and flexed, twisted and turned in ways that hardly seemed elvenly possible. Ge’els continued to breath the translations of the text into Iespeth’s ears.  
  
_‘No man should carve runes  
without knowing how to read them well;  
many a man will blunder  
astray around those dark letters;  
I saw on shaped whale-bone  
ten secret letters carved;  
from this the linden tree  
__received her great_ _suffering.  
  
Egil carved runes  
and put them under the pillow  
in the bed where she rested.  
It seemed as though she had woken  
from sleep and said  
that she was now well.’_  
  
The dancers remained for the rest of the performance. When it was over the performers – musicians and dancers both – retreated behind a secluded hedge.  
  
“The dancers, how do they move like that? I’m curious,” Iespeth asked Ge’els.  
  
“Decades of practice and born of the finest performers. They are truly am asset to their craft.”  
  
“I’ve never seen anyone bend like that. Except once when a man’s arm got caught in a plow pulled by a ornery ox. It wasn’t accompanied by music, but rather a snap and loud screams. They had to summon a healer. Tell me, are they assisted magic?”  
  
Ge’els lowered his feet from the reclining chair and sat up. “Why my tulip, everything here has at least an ounce magic. If you’ll excuse me,” he said, dismissively.  
  
The king went to speak to a few members of the audience. Seemingly deeply engrossed in conversation, Iespeth slurried around the stage and eventually made her way behind the hedge where the performers had disappeared to.  
  
As she rounded the corner she spotted one of the dancers sitting, holding her arm which hung limply down. The woman’s face was contorted in pain, her shoulder and forearm seemingly detached hung on only by skin.  
  
A man in a loose gray robe stood before her and pulled her arm out towards him. He mumbled an incantation and ran his hand along the dancer’s arm. The joint seem to pull back into the socket. Afterwards the man wrapped the dancer’s arm tightly to her breast with a fitted cloth and gave her a tonic in a pewter flagon.  
  
Iespeth moved to the woman.  
  
“You’re that new Seidhe aren’t you?” she asked cynically, cradling her arm.  
  
Iespeth swallowed. “Yes. Your arm? What’s wrong with it?”  
  
The woman scowled at Iespeth long before answering. “It’s fallen out of the socket. It happens quite often and easily repaired. Not without pain of course. My connective tissue is weak and must be frequently strengthened. But it’s worth it for the art.”  
  
Iespeth thought for a moment. “May I?” she asked reaching out towards the her shoulder.  
  
“Do you have experience as a healer?” the answer asked, as she leaned forward offering her bare shoulder to Iespeth.  
  
Iespeth placed one hand on the woman. Helix upon helix she felt the makeup of this woman. What made her eyes blue and her hair brown. She stumbled on what she was looking for, a genetic variance different from all other elves she had felt. A point defect, a mutation in the gene likely pertaining to collagen production, though Iespeth didn’t know the words for such things.  
  
“Healing? Not so much experience, no. I hope to learn of course,” Iespeth fibbed. She probed the woman’s shoulder as if to show interest.  
  
“There you are, my tulip!” the king’s voice bellowed behind her.  
  
The dancer lowered her eyes in reverence to the king. Iespeth released her arm and spun to meet him. “I couldn’t resist. The performance was just so fascinating I had to meet the dancers.”  
  
Ge’els chuckled. “My intuition was correct. You would enjoy it. Come. I am famished.”  
  
That night they supped on river crab smother in spice and butter. Iespeth was quiet, deep in thought and contemplation.  
  
“Werecat got your tongue?” the king asked, dabbing the corners of his mouth for any stray sauce.  
  
Iespeth was visibly pulled out of her thoughts. “Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking about something you touched on today.”  
  
“And what would that be, my tulip?”  
  
She smiled at the term of endearment he had come up for her. “Well, you mention one of your ancient predecessors, Niadhal. And he introduced this ‘Maxim of Genetic Enhancement’? How exactly does it work?”  
  
“A connoisseur of history I see. A lady after my own heart,” he said, placing his hand on his chest.  
  
Iespeth smiled feeling flattered. Every inquiry was praised, every conversation encouraged. She was not looking forward to the day when Avallac’h would return. She wondered – though the thought seemed ridiculous – if there was any way she could stay with Ge’els. Or perhaps even someone like him. The situation that Iespeth was Avallac’h’s apprentice was a farce of course and she didn’t think that exposing the lie would help the situation in any way. Yet, as Ge’els had explained the accord between a master and apprentice was sacred. Practically unbreakable. She wondered under what conditions there were exceptions. Iespeth was pulled from her inclinations as the king continued to speak.  
  
“Like I said, it wasn’t an edict or command, but simply a new philosophy. Individuals would submit themselves for inspection. Their physical prowess, their capability to perform magical feats, their skills of art and creation, healing, beauty, speed, everything was assessed. They were then paired with a partner who complimented them.”  
  
“Does this still go on today,” Iespeth prodded.  
  
“Well, in a sense. This began a long time ago and has evolved over the years of course.”  
  
“In what way?”  
  
“Procreation is no longer, how shall I say, performed without the blessing of an Aen Saevherne.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“It would be a waste. Only the Sages know which pairing could result in the betterment of our kind.”  
  
“And the people are ok with that? People like Avallac’h telling them who they can and cannot fuck?”  
  
The held back a frown at her use of such a base word, though was always tickled to hear any hint of displeasure of Avallac’h. “I think you misunderstand. We, the Aen Elle, are willing to do everything for the betterment of our kind. No one is forbidden from enjoying the pleasures of the flesh. Many just choose to do so in such a way that is for the betterment of our species or they simply do not do it at all. ‘For the good of the Folk’, so the saying goes.”  
  
“For the good of the Folk,” Iespeth repeated under her breath, dissatisfied by this revelation. “If I may ask then, where are the results of these ‘optimized pairings’?” she asked, referring to children.  
  
Ge’els attempted to stifle his discomfort and agitation caused by this subject. “Well, we do not wish to risk overpopulation. It’s been some time since we saw a need to create,” he lied. The mystery of the Aen Elle’s seeming infertility was a problem that even the Aen Saevherne couldn’t seem to solve.  
  
Iespeth indirectly knew the truth. She had felt enough of the Aen Elle to know that at the chromosomal level they could not have children with each other. She suspected that along with their controlled breeding, the Aen Saevherne had attempted tweaking genes as well. She wished to remain in the king’s good graces and pressed the matter no further.  
  
“Come,” the king commanded after a stint of awkward silence. “Let us walk the palace gardens. The moon is full and the white wisterias are in bloom. They reflect beautifully in the moonlight.”  
  
Ge’els had no interest in seeing the glowing white wisterias or enjoying a moon lit walk. He had a much more menacing plan.  
  
The moon was but a sliver that night. The lack of moonlight, however, detracted nothing from the beauty of the city. They took a long path through a promenade where the glowing wisterias began. Iespeth walked closely to the king occasionally on accident bumping into him for lack of paying attention.  
  
Ge’els’ thoughts began to wander. He looked over at this short, uncultured Seidhe walking beside him eyes darting around admiring the gardens. He found her objectively unattractive. But that was not something that was an objective matter. The breeze sent her scent towards him and he wondered what she might look like sans clothing. Her loose dress left her figure little for the imagination. Ge’els couldn’t see the appeal in her small waist, wide hips, and quaint breasts. Nor in the scars she sported which were extenuated by her toned muscles. And yet, the stirring in his pants suggested otherwise. For a moment, he thought about the possibility of abandoning his plans for the evening and coupling with this woman. Perhaps it was the talk they had earlier. Perhaps she was just a breath of fresh air. He thought himself in control of his baser urges which is why he had never taken a G’ymar. Yet, all he could think about was wedging her naked body between his own and the thick-trunk magnolia tree they were currently walking under. Their arrival at the labyrinth brought him out of his daze.  
  
They arrived at the large maze consisting of wisteria bushes. The blooms shone brightly in the moonlight which activated the charm that had been placed on them.  
  
“We are here. There is nothing like ...”  
  
Arriving as planned, one of Ge’el’s aids appeared, a sealed scroll in hand. He unrolled the parchment and grumbled.  
  
“Hmm, this does require immediate attention,” he informed the aid. “My tulip, you’ll have to excuse me. Do enjoy the labyrinth. I shall return as quickly as time permits.”  
  
“I’m not going to encounter a minotaur in here am I?” Iespeth jokingly asked.  
  
Ge’els smiled. _No. But something much more dangerous_ , he thought wickedly. “Do enjoy yourself.” With that the king left with the seneschal.  
  
Iespeth took a step forward admiring the glowing flowers. She picked up a ginger pace and made her way into the winding way.  
  
She heard a giggling, moving down the corridor of the labyrinth. It grew louder each time she neared and quieted when she got too close. She trotted along turning corner after corner moving deeper into the maze. She rounded a corner with a particularly large concentration of glowing wisterias. It was then that she spotted the child, running towards the center of a large opening.  
  
A woman sat upon a marble bench spotlit by the moon beams. Iespeth found her severe in appearance yet, like Avallac'h, professorial of manner. She wore a significantly less déshabillé dress in comparison to many of the she-elves Iespeth had seen with the collar covering her collarbones and only her arms exposed. Her hair was the color of fire which was kept at bay by a long thick braid. The sides of her head were barren and in place of hair a runic tattoo slithered up her neck behind her ears and disappeared under the thick tuft of red on her crown.  
  
The child took its place upon lap of the woman.  
  
"You must be the Aen Seidhe that everyone is talking about. A surprise to find you here of all places. I thought Avallac'h carefully guarded his assets. He is not one to be sloppy. Perhaps age has addled him," she spoke with a certain candor.  
  
Iespeth frowned at being called an 'asset'. She studied the woman with critical eyes.  
  
"I meant nothing by it of course." The woman said noticing Iepseth's trepidation. "Just a jab at someone that...well, we are, shall I call us, rivals. Enjoy the tableau with me," the woman commanded. She unerringly swiped a swath of her dress to the side leaving enough space on the bench for one more.  
  
Iespeth sat down next to her. She realized the wisteria blooms in front of her were grown in such a way as to depict a mother cradling her child.  
  
“It’s beautiful, wouldn’t you agree?”  
  
Iespeth cocked her head and examined the flower sculpture.  
  
"Would you mind lighting the orb next to you?" the woman bid.  
  
"I don't know how," replied Iespeth.  
  
The woman made a satisfied sound. She leaned over and summoned a ball of light into the basin.  
  
Iespeth examined the child upon the woman’s lap. To her surprise, it was no elven child at all. Its eyes were disproportionally large and its skin blue. It looked curiously at Iespeth as it cuddled up to the woman.  
  
"Never seen a godling before? No matter. I am called Alaise."  
  
"Greetings, Alaise. Pardon the presumption, but I suspect you already know my name?"  
  
Alaise nodded.  
  
There was an awkward moment of silence.  
  
"What is it that 'everyone' says about me?" Iespeth finally asked, breaking the silence.  
  
Alaise took a long look at her. She exhibited a strange look of sadness. "They say that you look like her. I did not give credence to such gossip but looking at you..." A small smile almost broke out from the side of her mouth. She turned away for a moment. "Uncanny," she whispered.  
  
"Who is this 'she' of whom you speak?"  
  
"Lara Dorren."  
  
Iespeth shrugged her shoulders.  
  
Alaise looked at her incredulously. She felt her suspicions were confirmed. This Aen Seidhe who sat before her was an uneducated, talentless imbecile, she surmised. She hated Avallac'h now more than ever. To try and replace Lara, her dearest of friends long gone, with _this_. Some trollop to put his cock into who bared a mere resemblance in some sick effort to remember _her_.  
  
Alaise composed herself. It wasn't this Seidhe's fault that she had been played by the sage. She wondered what he had told her to convince her to come with him. Promises of magic and knowledge? Riches and parties? Great sex? Now more than ever, she wanted to take Avallac'h's new toy away from him if only to make him hurt.  
  
"You must be quite young," she remarked. "Lara Dorren aep Shiadhal was one of the greatest of us. She was a powerful sage with abilities that far extended that which any other elf has possessed. A true master of time and space."  
  
Iespeth expressed great interest and listened intently. "What happened to her?"  
  
"She was, in a sense, driven away by the very master whom you serve."  
  
"Avallac'h? He drove her away? But why?"  
  
"His fearsome jealousy drove her into the arms of a human. Cregannon of Lod. You are from the Continent, you must know. There it is swarming with D’hoine. I assume you are familiar too with their baser primal urges? Lara became pregnant by him. The humans disapproved so they hunted, like savages, the both of them. First Cregannon. Then Lara. Many thought the child had died with her but somehow it survived and the gene it carried wormed its way through the sapiens. Our greatest betrayal."  
  
Iespeth swallowed a large lump that had formed in her throat. Lara Dorren. That was who she had been when last she was here. Since that day on the Isle of Undvik in that gate which name was unknown to her, she had only a few memories of her former self; an incomplete genetic makeup and a few recollections of what she suspected was her predecessor's death.  
  
She felt unsettled. According to this woman that she didn't know, Avallac'h, her pseudo master, had played a part in her death. There were many things unclear to her. Why did her past self choose to give her gift to the humans? Why did it take so long for them to figure out what the gift was for and how many generations did they have to burn through until Ciri used it for it's proper intention? The humans she had seen until now seemed too primitive for such a responsibility and now she was concerned that the elves, the species that had been chosen, were hardly more worthy.  
  
"You knew her then? This Lara?"  
  
"I did. It was her destiny to be the Lady of Time and Space. How fitting for the daughter of the wise King Auberon Muircetach and great Shiadhal to be what the seers foresaw. Avallac'h was much younger then when she came to him. Of course she would train with the great sage Crevan Espane aep Caohman Macha. It was not long before the student became the teacher. Competitive in nature, such is the way of sages, he could not stand seeing her surpass him. I watched as his jealousy grew and his obsession with possessing her swelled."  
  
She feared now when the moment came that Avallac'h would return. She began to think more about what Ge'els had said. About getting a new master. She wondered if she could appeal to the mage sitting before her or if asking the king directly might be more efficient.  
  
"But let us turn to more pleasant subjects. How do you like our fair city?" Alaise asked.  
  
Alaise listened intently occasionally asking questions to keep Iespeth talking. Once Iespeth lips were invested in chatter the godling began to cast a soothing spell. Iespeth's talking slowed and her eyelids became slits. Once she was quiet Alaise commenced her questions.  
  
"Are you relaxed?"  
  
"Very."  
  
"Good. How did you come to Tir ná Lia?"  
  
"Through a gateway. Small. Barely functioning."  
  
"With Avallac'h?"  
  
"Yes. With Avallac'h."  
  
Alaise detected the hint of a grimace in Iespeth's demure.  
  
"Fond of him you are not?"  
  
"No. He is cruel. He does not approve of me."  
  
"Interesting. Yet you are his apprentice? Under what circumstance then did he bring you here?"  
  
"Ciri told me to go with him. She made him take me. It was no longer safe there. The Seidhe, they will perish. I am his apprentice in name only," answered Iespeth obediently.  
  
"Is that so? Well that certainly is amusing. Then what will you be doing here?"  
  
Alaise felt what could only be described as a surge and then a subsequent ripple as if the power of the spell was being challenged. The hair on her arms raised and she felt a chill of warmth. Iespeth turned to her and spoke one word. "Living."  
  
"There you are my tulip."  
  
The king's words broke the trance. The godling scurried away into the hedges and Alaise pursed her lips wishing she had had more time.  
  
Iespeth whipped around as she heard the king's voice.  
  
"Did you enjoy the glowing wisteria?"  
  
"Immensely. I ran into Alaise here and we chatted for a bit. Do you know each other?"  
  
Alaise bowed to the king.  
  
“At my age you at least become acquainted with everyone, but we have never had the opportunity to exchange more than the prescribed pleasantries of our stations” Ge’els declared.  
  
The king gave the oddest of looks to the sage and she seemed to reply with the faintest of smiles. Iespeth shrugged it off until they said their goodbyes.  
  
"It's time we return to the palace. A nice snack, I presume, will calm our wanting bellies before retiring for the night."  
  
Alaise offered her hand to Iespeth. "Farewell Iespeth, apprentice of Avallac'h. I hope to see you soon," she said, the duality of her meaning well hidden.  
  
Iespeth reached out and took her hand. She felt the acids that made up the base pairs. The arrangement they took in the form of a helix. Nucleotides, proteins, chromosomes. All words she didn’t know, yet could instinctively feel. An ability left over from long ago.  
  
The suspicion she'd kept at bay overtook her. The consanguinity of this woman was strong with that of another Iespeth had felt. This woman was the king's sister. That was what that look was. Iespeth felt ashamed of herself. The king nor this mage were to be trusted. They had motives and agendas of their own of which Iespeth knew naught. She began to analyze every conversation she had had with him, hoping she could divine the king’s intentions.  
  
Iespeth forced herself to walk aside the king in the most casual manner she could muster. She began to wonder when Avallac'h would return and almost looked forward to it until she remembered Alaise’s words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics to the songs were taken from the translations of Raido by Wardruna and Egil Saga by Faun, respectively.


	5. Chapter 5

The candle flickered in the warm breeze, the length of it almost gone as the burning wick inched its way down the scented beeswax. Quills of crows, eagles, owls, swans and hawks cast nefarious shadows against the tapestried wall behind the desk.

The candle burns out and the quill must be recut periodically until needing replacing. Avallac'h had always wondered why Halc’ha had retained such simple aspects of the past instead of embracing the modern ways. He picked up the small ink bottle gave it a sift and smelled it. A simple mixture of ferrous sulfate and tannin from oak gall. Rarely used as it corroded parchment and for elves who could live an eternity, hardly useful. It was lucky though Avallac'h’s knowledge of Halc’ha’s sentimentality connected the clues he had gathered from the homes of the ill and deceased.

At first, Avallac'h had needed time to figure out it was a poison and not a disease. The symptoms began subtly, mild irritation of the skin in the form of blemishes and increased sun spots. The fatigue would then set in a few days later followed by lack of appetite and thirst. In the final days the victims would lose hair and grow feeble until bed ridden. The deaths were peaceful and serene, almost as if natural.

“I knew you would come. I would expect nothing less than my dear friend Avallac'h to solve the mystery.”

Halc’ha sat on his bed, hands folded and head cocked upwards. The lines on his cheeks indicated he had been holding his face for quite some time.

“I’ve come for the antidote. And to apprehend you,” Avallac'h replied reluctantly. He pulled out a small piece of parchment and an empty, blue vial. “An accusation of course requires evidence. Evidence that I wish wasn’t so obvious. I suspect the sloppy writing of a bird quill, the bluish-black ink partially faded to dull brown and the scent of smoke would match perfectly with the contents of your escritoire?”

Halc’ha held up a hand. “There is no need, old friend. I admit freely that I created the poison and gave instructions on how to administer it.”

“But why? Why would you assist in the murder of another?” Avallac'h felt as if he didn’t know Halc’ha; one of the few he called his friend. As a fellow sage they were no strangers to getting their hands dirty, but it was always for a purpose, for the greater good.

“There were no murders. It was mercy I offered.”

Avallac'h looked at him as if to demand an explanation.

With a sigh, Halc’ha began to speak, carefully and sorrowfully.

“I helped them. First it was Tel Dorcha. He came to me asking for relief. It took time. The formulae was not easy. After that success more came.”

“You’re helping people kill themselves? But, why?”

Halc’ha stood up slowly and went to the full length dressing mirror. He grabbed his brush – a fine piece carved of black walnut with a mural of the Red Riders on its back. He began systematically grooming his long, silver hair.

“We are stagnant, Crevan. Ever the same, never changing. Existence has become futile, for what is its purpose? What is its worth? We are already dead,many just don’t know it yet. Those elves, Crevan, I gave them life if only for a few days and a poetic end.”

“Nevertheless,I am obliged to take you in,” Avallac'h informed him regretfully.

“There won’t be a trial Avallac'h.” Halc’ha looked at his brush and smiled. The strands of hair laced in the bristles were abundant and shone in the light.

Avallac'h took the brush, examined it and placed it on the night stand where an empty blue vial stood lonely.

“Halc’ha, there must be an antidote. You must take the antidote!”

Halc’ha shook his head. “There is no antidote. That would take away from the finality and inevitability that is death. Be with me, old friend, in my final days. Let me go in dignity, peacefully, and in the company of someone dear to me.”

Avallac'h sat down on the bed next to him and took his hand in his own. He would remain with his friend till the end.

Two days later, Halc’ha succumbed to the poison and died.

The remembrance of the last fleeting moments with his friend remained etched in Avallac'h’s vast vault of painful memories. He ambled at his usual patient pace as he entered the domain of Tir ná Lia, relieved to soon be home.

The sun was at its zenith giving the city an adorning glow. He lowered the hood of his mantle letting his skin revel in the warm rays. He had originally been inclined to go straight home, but remembered the conundrum that awaited him there. He was too tired and without solution to face the two women residing in his house. Without thought, he found himself taking a detour to the one of the many gardens that punctuated the city.

He walked into a circular growth of rose bushes and sweet cherry trees, sat down on a marble bench and pulled out his flute. He licked his lips systematically, placed them on the mouthpiece and began a jaunty tune.His eyes closed to divert more attention to his attuned ears. Note by note and breath by breath Avallac'h’s mind calmed as he focused on his improvised song. He hardly noticed the elf that now sat beside him quietly listening.

“Why did you not announce yourself?” Avallac'h asked calmly as he lay his flute on his lap.

“Forgive me Aen Saevherne. I did not wish to disturb your song. It is not my intent to break with etiquette, you see, but, well I saw no other way... I am Memthir proprieter of the...”

“That will be all,” Avallac'h said curtly.He knew well who Memthir was. After all he had delivered him as an infant. Younger brother of Caranthir Ar-Feiniel. Son of the Great Caretta. It was Memthir who was indirectly the cause of her death; the last she-elf with the abilities of time and space able to bare a child to term. “State your business then and be quick about it,” the sage demanded.

“I was not certain. I mean, I heard only rumors. Em, you have just returned have you not? Do you know?”

“Context is needed,” Avallac'h spat as he contemplated his next tune.

“Is it true then, that Iespeth is your apprentice?”

Avallac'h lowered his flute and pursed his lips. “How do you know that name?” he asked in a dangerously low tone.

Memthir told the sage what had transpired in his eatery a few days ago. He liked Iespeth and hoped that the sage – having heard a more neutral version of the events that had transpired as apposed to those from the officials – would likely be more lenient on his apprentice.

Avallac'h face vacillated between anger and dismay. Once Memthir had finished his tale, the sage, without a word, stood up and took off at a quick and lengthy stride.

The sage adjusted the collar of his mantle which had suddenly began feeling very constrictive and began climbing the steps to the towered lanai where Ge'els was said to be dining with his 'honored' guest.

The tower was more of a platform risen high above the lower skyline of Tir na Liá. Atop of it was a mesh of flowering vines. Roses, clematis, moonflowers, passion flowers, and canary creeper intertwined in a symphony of floral beauty. They were grown such that those sitting within the botanical nest could see far and wide, yet onlookers could and only could enjoy the myriad of petalled gems. A place for lover's who desired privacy yet simulateously wished to taut their dalliance.

Avallac'h blinked at the earthy smell of fried avocado and the cutting tang of chilli-spiced oysters mingled with the sweet scent of the surrounding blooms. His stomach churled in rage imagining the two up there, bodies entwined like the garden that surrounded them. When laughter reached his ear he quickened his pace taking the steps in pairs.

They didn't see him at first. When he cleared his throat both jerked their attention towards him. Iespeth, upon realizing who was there leaped up from the settee and smoothed down a loose dress, whose hem, in the long hours she had been lounging, had found its way around her mid thigh. Ge'els watched her with a puckish smile and then turned to the sage with a deviant grin.

Avallac'h, try as he may, could barely conceal his rage. He wasn't sure where to begin or what to say.

It was Ge'els who spoke first. "Care for a bite, Crevan? You must be famished after your journey."

"I require nothing of sustenance." Avallac'h replied with steam practically hissing from his ears.

Ge'els took a two-pronged fork and stabbed a morsel.

"A pity. A good bovine roast with pequin chillis embedded into the fat is a favorite of mine. Some even say that spicy hot meat acts as an aphrodisiac, though I give no credence to such pseudo folk "wisdom". Ge'els was now looking directly at Avallac'h, his smile now curving wickedly.

"The king was so kind as to show me around Tir na Liá, Avallac'h, since you were away," Iespeth said shyly trying to break the silence that had built.

"Yes. As I am to understand it you found yourself in a bit of trouble so shortly after I departed. Very kind of the king indeed." Avallac'h's voice was as dry as a bone under a desert sun.

"I've come to learn that Iespeth has only just arrived to our world. I almost feel guilty having sent you away so soon having taken on a new...*apprentice* under your wing. Had I known of course things might have taken a different course, you understand? I felt I at least owed it to you to keep an eye on her until your return."

Avallac'h was fuming. He stared unblinking at the king. "Thank you for your diligence. I assume you would like a report on the incident of which you sent me to investigate? Iespeth, go down and wait for me." His undertone was caustic.

Iespeth hesitated, looking at the king.

"Be a dear my tulip and wait for your master down below. For I think we can agree that this stately business, being of a sensitive nature, is for us and us alone, hmm?"

Iespeth held her head low and left without looking at Avallac'h as she went.

"Something of Lara Dorren about her, wouldn't you agree Crevan?" Ge'els asked provocatively once Iespeth was gone.

"She is none of your concern," Avallac'h retorted.

"On the contrary, Aen Saevherne. She assaulted a citizen with a deadly weapon. Add to that that she came under secrecy without my knowledge or approval," replied Ge'els swinging his legs off the settee and sitting up.

"There is nothing illegal about bringing a Seidhe to the world of the Aen Elle. "

"True. But we are an isolated society. And the introduction of a foreign body to the host should be made known to at least the head. For what if that foreign body turns out to be a pathogen? Even if rather beautiful." Ge'els peeked over the side of the platform.

"Are we finished with the business of my apprentice?"

"For now. Tell me, what of the mysterious deaths in Tir na Diraín"

Avallac'h told Ge'els of Halc’ha’s assistance in the suicides of more than 50 Aen Elle and his own subsequent suicide as well. The antagonistic air that Ge'els had originally taken suddenly diffused.

"Over 50? Dead? How can this be?"

"Many saw no future. A meaningless eternity of repetition."

"Things have changed since Auberon was king. We once conquered worlds. Drove armies to ruin. Enslaved the fallen. Now look at us. Dwindling in numbers. Dying for no reason. Though his goal may have been ill placed and would have resulted in nothing, Eredin's short lived pursuit of the Swallow certainly lifted the spirits of the Alder Folk."

Many of the upper strata of elves, including Ge'els, disavowed Eredin after his death and the defeat of the White Frost. They behaved as if Eredin had forced them under threat of violence to support his plans to evacuate the Aen Elle to the Continent. An endeavor that would have been fruitless. It was well known, though never spoken alloud, that Avallac'h and Zirael had been the ones to stop the White Frost from consuming their and all other worlds. Open defiance among the Aen Elle was considered a crime above all against the folk. So, the result was that Avallac'h's name, station, and respect had been restored, but his saving of their kind was never acknowledged as punishment for his rebellion.

"We need something to happen. Something for all of us to look forward to. Perhaps if we were to supplant a well sized colony of humans. Then wipe them out, portraying us as defending our home from the vile homo sapiens."

"With what navigator? Many were lost in Eredin's charades. And the few we have left wouldnt be able to transport enough for them to seem a threat. Besides, your army is in shambles. The risk of more Aen Elle deaths seems not a wise maneuver. Now, with your permission, I am tired and would like to return home. I haven't the energy for base scheming just now."

"Very well." Ge'els waved his hand in dismissal. "Oh Avallac'h? I shall have Iespeth's effects sent to your home. She had very little use for the clothes she arrived in," Ge'els added provocatively.

Avallac'h paused for a moment before continuing down the stairs. Fantasies of lighting Ge'els on fire flitted through his thoughts. Composed as he often was he replied with the slightest of nods and strode down the stairs where his next problem awaited.

The two walked in silence, Iespeth and Avallac'h, until off the palace grounds. Iespeth dare not catch the sage's eye, preferring not to provoke his ire if it could be avoided.

"Have you nothing to say for yourself?" Avallac'h began. He paused, looking in the direction of the emerald eyes that avoided him. "You attacked another, drawing blood? Have you no civility? Are you truly as savage as a d'hoine? And what's more: have you any idea what you have cost me personally? The embarrassment you have caused me? I told you, I TOLD you to stay put. As your master..."

Iespeth felt it fair for him to berate her for her agressive acts. She was even prepared to apologize until he brought up his "feelings". As if she should consider his emotional comfort after the way he had treated her. She snapped and interjected a roar.

"But you're not my master! You made that very clear! And if you are not my master then I am not your apprentice and you have no sway over me!" She spoke now with pure vitriol. "Your little lecture might be effective if I gave a shit about what you think. It might have once, but you saw to it that what you think about how I behave is irrelevant. At least to me! I didn't come here to be deposited in some hole and left to spend an eternity cleaning a stables or baking the same cake over and over again. Oh don't worry, as soon as I find a suitable alternative I will be out of your hair."

Avallac'h was hurt by the thought of her leaving him but he couldn't help with a barrage of snide commentary. "And where do you think you can go? Do you think you can just wander as you did with Cirilla? Believe me, this world is much more dangerous than the one you can from. Your winter of witcher's training counts for nothing if you walk out of this dome. Horrors you couldn't believe roam the space between here and the two other sister cities. And inside the city, what do you expect? This is nothing like the trash cities humans built upon the rubble of your ancestors where one can sell their sword or their body for money."

"I have other options,"she replied with sneering confidence.

"What? With the king? Do you truly think he would take you in? That he cares about you just because you fucked? Delusions. You are just a pawn in his.."

"And am I not a pawn to you? I heard things about you. Whispers and talk."

"Is that so? And do you believe the sources to be honest with you?"

"Rumors do not stem from nothing. Who was Lara Dorren? Who was she to you?"

Avallac'h felt as if she had taken a knife to his heart. It was a topic he knew might arise however never so soon.

"Why would you ask about Lara?" he said trying to conceal his emotions. Though hoping the elves with which she had spent the last weeks with would have exhibited an iota of class and tact, he suspected that Iespeth had heard the off comment or two about her uncanny likeness to Lara Dorren.

"They say you drove her away."

"That is not a topic I wish to discuss," the tension in Avallac'h’s voice was apparent.

"They say she was your apprentice. That her knowledge and powers were far superior to your own. That you could not stand it!" At this point Iespeth was hysterical. "You tried to possess the power she had didn't you? You tried to possess her. You killed her!" she said accusingly.

The stress of the past days had now reached a level that even Avallac'h could not withhold. He lunged towards Iespeth steadying his hand before reaching her. The subtle crackling of magic could be felt and for a moment Iespeth was scared. He lowered his hand which was now shaking. His eyes were teared up at which he turned away attempting to conceal them. "You don't know a thing about which you speak. Lara was my beloved. I cared more deeply for her than those gossiping entrails at court could ever dream of! Do not ever again even suggest that I killed Lara Dorren!"

Iespeth felt sorry for hurting him, but was not satisfied with his answer. She needed to know what happened to her past self. She needed to know if Avallac'h posed a danger. Perhaps he was innocent. After all, Ciri had trusted him. He must have known that the Swallow possessed the same gifts as her ancestor. Iespeth had of course entertained the possibility that all she was told, by the King, by Alaise, was to drive a wedge between her and the sage. It wasn't unlikely that someone might put a connection between Iespeth's similar looks and the power she held within her. And unfortunately they would be right. Though limited this time in the exhibition of aid power there would still be those who would seek to use her for their own personal gain.

The two remained silent the remaining way home.

It was midday when the missive came three days after Avallac'h had returned home with Iespeth. The sage was dining with Maondine when the herald arrived bearing the summons. Iespeth had already eaten, preferring to dine alone which Avallac'h permitted and even facilitated still being unsure of how to behave around her.

"What does it say?" Maondine asked, popping another stewed cherry into her mouth.

Avallac'h had gone pale. He handed the missive to her and resumed his lunch, preferring to occupy his face with the chewing of food rather than betray to his dismay to his companion.

"Well, that solves it then. You must be relieved aren't you?" Maondine quipped.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," he replied carefully omitting the emphasis on 'you'.

Iespeth was in the library when Avallac'h mustered the courage to tell her.

"We've been summoned to the tribunal by the council of sages. There is to be a trial."

"For me? I thought the incident in the tavern was resolved? Ge'els said..."

"Not for you. For me. The trial is to determine whether I am fit to keep you as an apprentice. If I have fulfilled my educational duties adequately," he clarified handing her the missive.

She took it and skimmed the text only able to parse a bit of the legalese. "But I'm not your apprentice."

"Irrelevant. Everyone thinks you are. A fact you and the king thoroughly established," he stated accusingly.

"Well, they can't do that. They can't just decide to pass me off to some person I don't even know."

"They can and they will."

"Is there nothing you can do?"

Avallac'h was touched. His anger had significantly subsided since his last interaction with her. Time had a way of soothing wounds. For a moment he felt hope only to have it dashed away by the reality of the situation. "There is nothing I can do. Such a trial hasn't been undergone in over a vast age."

Iespeth furrowed her brow. "How is such a trial conducted?"

"It's quite straight forward. You will be given tasks. Asked to perform certain spells or solve magic puzzles."

"Can you not teach me?"

"We have three days time. Magic isn't just the recitation of incantations, waving of wands, stomping of staffs and throwing ingredients into a cauldron. It's the complex understanding of physics, mathematics, chemistry. It's understanding the laws which govern our very existence."

"But they can't expect someone who has been your apprentice for two weeks to know all of that."

"No, they cannot. Which is why I expect this trial is not meant to be a fair one. Though they will give it the appearance of such."

Iespeth was enraged. The king had mentioned the possibility of her leaving Avallac'h, but he had done this without her permission. She began to understand that she was seen as a pawn to be maneuvered. She was horribly frustrated by the rigid hierarchy of this society.

"Can we not at least try?"

"Are you saying you wish to stay with me?"

"I..." Iespeth wasn't sure. She couldn't finish her sentence and was grateful Avallac'h didn't make her.

"Well then, a bit of education wouldn't hurt you at the very least."

****

"If I give you 3 points can you calculate the area of the triangle they make?"

Iespeth thought for a moment. "Well, these points are vectors. Then I just have to find the vectors that connect the three points. A simple calculation. Do you want me to explain that part or do you believe I know how?

"I believe your knowledge of how to find vector C given A and B is sufficient. Go on."

"I then take the absolute to find the length of each vector. So now I know the length of the sides of the triangle. I want to use the simple formula which we deduced earlier. One-half times the base times the height."

"Then you would need the height of the triangle."

"Hmm. Oh yes! So simple! Use the scalar product! It projects how much this vector goes in this directions!" She was now using her fingers to demonstrate what she meant. "And there you have it!"

Avallac'h looked content though hardly pleased. Iespeth thought for a moment then raised a finger.

"I know, I know, there is a simpler way. The cross product. Using the absolute, we get the area of the trapezoid constructed by two vectors. Don't even need the third. Then that divided by a half and twa la!"

Avallac'h smiled, pleased with her progress. "Bravo." His smile quickly dissipated.

"It's not enough is it?"

The sage shook his head. "The trial is tomorrow. This is simple linear algebra. Appropriate for a child. We've not even brushed dimensions higher than three, nor calculus let alone the more applied sciences. That is all irrelevant though. I suspect whoever conducts the test will use the Grid."

"The Grid?"

"Yes. It is an exercise tool for more advanced students. It is a quadratic space separated into 64 separate squares. You will be asked to predict where an object will be teleported to. You see, a portal is more complicated than a door connecting two rooms. It is two separate magical components: a entrance and an exit. Or more accurately named: a decompiler and a compiler. One takes apart the very atoms and essence that makes up a unit,  puts them in a transportable form and sends them. The other receives this and puts the pieces back together. One tell tale sign of a decompiler is a sort of sling shot in a manner of speaking. This accelerates the matter and energy towards the compiler. The compiler on the other hand has an ethereal net made appropriately large enough to catch any dispersed particles. Of course this is an oversimplified explanation of portation. My most talented of navigators, who had been groomed and trained since after his birth, was first thirty before he could teleport something within the Grid."

"I see," Iespeth said. "And who conducts this test?"

"Naturally, it must be someone who can create complicated portals. That leaves either a navigator or sage. Though the two aren't mutually exclusive.  There were some who held neither academic titles who had a mild ability for short distance teleportation. But..." They have since perished. He finished the sentence with a sad smile. "I have an inkling as to who with will perform the tests. A mage with hair of fire."

"Alaise? I met her in the most peculiar of circumstances. I guess it would be fitting that she performs the tests."

"Why would you say that?"

"Oh, I don't know. She just gave me a peculiar feeling when I met her," she answered coily.

Avallac'h eyed Iespeth suspiciously.

"I'm curious. Is there a rivalry between you and Alaise?" Iespeth asked.

Avallac'h snorted. "A rivalry suggests two equally matched adversaries. Alaise is a hedge mage of an Aen Saevherne. That some call her a sage is laughable. But, she does have her talents. She is still quite an adept magic user."

"Do you suppose her brother had anything to do with it? Her being an Aen Saevherne I mean?"

Avallac'h raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Her brother?"

"Yes, her brother the king."

The sage looked at her for a long while. "How could you possibly know that?"

Iespeth was surprised to find out that was knowledge not even common amongst the Aen Elle. That Alaise and the King were siblings was a secret they must have kept dearly. They were working together, but to what ends she wasn't sure. She decided to play it off casually.

"You are not the only one with guile," she said with a cock of he head.

Avallac'h studied her for a long while. "Well, paint me impressed."

"How would one do that?"

Avallac'h frowned at her lack of understanding. "It's a figure of speech."

"Oh. The colloquialisms of the Hen Ellylon sometimes elude me. Still, why does she harbor an animosity towards you?"

"Avallac'h?" she asked, as he had been silence for far too long.

"She blames me for the loss of someone dear to her."

"Lara?"

Avallac'h looked away from her. “Let’s move on to parametric lines.”

That night Avallac'h felt restless sitting on his balcony. He'd mentally gone over every law regarding apprentices trying to find a loop hole. If he could appeal to enough of the council members perhaps he could get an injunction. But that would all have to occur before the trial leaving him with only 5 hours to do the impossible as most of the sages were indifferent.

He toyed with the idea of leaving with Iespeth to another world. But once again, the timing was wrong. None of the gates would be opening before the trial. Besides, though he couldn't be sure they would be pursued, he preferred not to live on the run again.

He eventually wondered why he was even searching for a way for her to stay with him. Why did it even matter? It would have been easiest to just let her go, not to mention best for his health having a living, breathing memory of Lara Dorren in his constant presence.

"Avallac'h, it's time," he heard from behind proudly. Maondine stood there in a particularly scant dress as if to celebrate the occasion. She wrapped Avallac'h's cowl around his shoulders and passed him his staff pleased to see him take Iespeth to her fate.

Elves were congregated at the entrance to the hall were the trial was to be held. Flickering eyes attempted to catch sly glances at the sage and his apprentice. Avallac'h noticed one set in particular looking without caution at his charge. The king began to walk over with purpose like wild cat honing in on its prey.

The king was flanked on either side by two rather attractive she-elves both similar in dress and appearance. "Would you two be dears and fetch me a snack to eat? I'm famished," he asked the two ladies once he had arrived. They left with cooperative smiles and disappeared amongst the crowd.

"Ah the sage and apprentice of the hour have finally arrived albeit slightly off of punctual. I'm sure, though, my dear Aen Saevherne considers himself never late or early instead arriving precisely when he means to. And of course, the ever lovely Iespeth in tow. My tulip!"

He took her hand and left his lips lingering on the back of Iespeth's fingers longer than protocol dictated.

Iespeth remained calm and collected as the king attempted to rile up the sage at her side.

"It is a pity that the council has decided to call this court into session. Why, what ever shall I do if you end up in the hands of someone that guards these beautifal eyes more jealously than your current master? Hmm, Crevan?" he quipped relinquishing Iespeth's hand.

"You'll have to endure," replied Avallac'h dryly. 

The king chuckled. "In any case the trial begins in mere moments. Best get on with it!"

Iespeth and Avallac'h were led to a small, but grand room in the shape of a funnel whose lower half had been cut off. At the bottom was a short podium of sorts. Surrounding this focal point were tapered layers of seating.

The seats began to fill with elves dressed in finely fitted robes, conservatively yet still meant to impress. Iespeth looked up and saw the faces of judgment, the faces of those wishing for entertainment, and the few faces of those utterly curious.

The crowd began to settle and a regal elf in white robes rose and began to speak.

"Crevan Espane aep Caohman Macha. You've been summoned here today in evaluation of your duty towards your apprentice. The Council of Aen Saevherne has deemed it necessary to acquiesce the progress of Iespeth of No Lineage as to whether her talents are being properly fostered and if her placement with you is appropriate. A master's duty is to optimize a pupil's use for the good of the folk. Being a sage, that encompasses the enigmas of space, the fabric of time, the mysteries of what is and what is to be. Do you wish to speak?"

Avallac'h stood and cleared his throat. "This trial is a farce. Whoever instigated this process has done it under misleading or at the very least misguided circumstances. Perhaps by revealing the truth we might spare ourselves this mockery."

"And what is the truth?"

"This Seidhe did not come here as my apprentice."

There were gasps and murmuring from the spectators.

"Fate called me to the world of the Seidhe for reasons I have yet to understand. It was there that I met with Cirilla. In case you have forgotten her proper title, Zireal, the Lady of Time and Space, the Seed that Shall not Sprout but Burst into Flame. She asked that I take this Seidhe whom she cared for deeply to our world. It's no mystery that the Seidhe's very existence is imperiled by the d'hoine. I agreed. It was the least I and any of us could do in gratitude towards the Swallow. We owe her our lives though none may admit it. This woman, Iespeth of No Lineage, is no mage. No person of talent. She is merely someone who got caught in unfortunate circumstances and is now being forced to play part in a farcical trial. I ask you, council members, as she has no obligations to the Aen Elle, seeing as she can add very little to our society, to give her the freedom to chose where she goes."

Iespeth looked at the sage astonished. She'd never expected him to tell the truth. And what’s more, to ask for her choice in the matter.

"Be that as it may, the subject in question has already demonstrated that she is a danger and until it can be guaranteed that she can act as a civilized member of our society she must fall under the jurisdiction of Master and Apprentice. The formalities to determine this must be observed. Shall we proceed?"

Iespeth realized by venturing beyond Avallac'h's home and acting as she had done she had effectively secured that which she was trying to avoid. But now, this council, unknown to her, would decide what would be done with her. And the outcome seemed hardly promising.

Avallac'h leaned over to Iespeth. “I am sorry. I never meant for it to come to this.”

“Did you not wish to be rid of me?”

Two elves in golden armor now stood at the sage’s side.

Avallac'h shook his head and contorted his face. “I hope you can forgive me. Va Fail,” as he was ushered from the hall.

 

"Wait, where is he going? Where are they taking him?" Iespeth asked.

"Standard procedure. We can't have a master helping his apprentice. In any way. He will be nearby, but under supervision to prevent any attempts of obtrusion," explained another elf belonging to the panel of judges.

"And if the test is unfair? How will I, a newcomer to this place, know? Who will speak on my behalf if not my master?"

"Irrelevant. You are not on trial. He is. Besides, if what he says is true then what to be determined here is to whose care you be best entrusted to and not whether you have been properly schooled. Avallac'h is the greatest of us sages. T'would be a waste for someone talentless to be placed with him."

Iespeth grimaced at the man. She scowled at the elves looking down at her across the lengths of their snivelling noses. She tried to pick out the words of a few whispers. Before she could decipher any of the fluster they all quieted down as a large, metal box covered by a thin sheet was brought out by two elves in the same armor as those who had escorted Avallac’h away. Behind them waltzed Alaise as if she had just conquered a kingdom.

The two elves placed the box onto the shallow podium and removed the sheet.

"Do you know what this is?" the red haired navigator asked smugly gesturing at the box.

Iespeth looked at her long in the eye. "I do."

"Hmph. Did your 'master' try to teach you a few tricks before you were to part ways? He must have known he could never have taught you enough for this."

"Why are you doing this Alaise?"

"I am doing nothing. I was merely summoned to perform my duty to our...oh forgive me. A clumsy slip of the tongue. MY people."

"We could have been friends you know." Iespeth's words were fronted with desperation.

Alaise laughed. "Friends? You are a child. A peon. What could you possibly offer me in friendship?"

"You're lonely Alaise. Why do you choose to keep company with a child-like species?"

Alaise looked at her eyes a flame. Iespeth had touched a nerve. "Let's get this over with then."

"Yes. Let's!"

"We shall start the test with a few basic portals in the grid.” Alaise was now speaking loudly so the assemblage could hear. “At first I shall restrict them to the first quadrant in a very small subquadrant. Let's say, a two by two matrix. I will open multiple portals but only one is the exit. You must tell me which one. For transparencies sake, I will drop the marble in to show the correct answer after you have given yours. As we progress we will extend to a larger area until we cover all four quadrants."

Alaise waved her hand. An entry opened up outside of the box and four possible exits emerged at (1,1), (1,2), (2,1) and (2,2). "Now, tell me where the marble will come out?"

Iespeth felt her cast the spell. She felt the flow of matter be pulled into the portal outside the Grid and the release of energy at the exit within. Teleportation came as naturally as breathing for her. She was not permitted to perform the act except under the most dire of circumstances. And even then it was not her conscious self that decided that. But that didn't prevent her from understanding it. From feeling the ebb and flow of space.

(2,2) is where the marble will emerge. 

"(1,1)," Iespeth said defiantly.

Alaise smirked and dropped the marble into the portal. It popped out at the located (2,2) in the grid. "Incorrect," Alaise stated pleased with herself.

"A pity," Iespeth replied.

"Let's increase the area. A ten by ten matrix in quadrant I."

Again she opened an entry outside of the box and multiple exits within.

*The exit is (8,3)*

"(3,8)" Iespeth answered.

Again, Alaise dropped the marble in and it popped out at (8,3).

"Incorrect."

"Drat," Iespeth exclaimed lacklusterly.

(-2,4)

"(2,4)"

"Incorrect."

"Fiddlesticks."

This went on many times until they were now using the whole grid. Alaise had even started putting magical artifacts near the grid that distorted portals. The multiple castings caused Alaise to sweat and she tried to hide her tired expression.

"This is the last teleportation. The last test. Where will the marble emerge?"

At this point the entire grid was peppered with portals. Iespeth felt though that none were proper exits. The marble, when dropped into the entry, would disintegrated and the portal would close. It would emerge nowhere. Iespeth looked around the room making individual eye contact with every sage. They all stared down at her, some fascinated, some shocked, all in trepidation of her answer.

"Your answer, apprentice. Where will the marble emerge?"

Nowhere. The marble will emerge nowhere.

"Everywhere!" Her voice was loud and reverberated through the domed hall.

Alaise looked up at the council members. The regal elf in white nodded his head and Alaise dropped the marble into the portal. There was a loud pop and a bright light as the portal ripped apart the small, round stone. After it was gone a small pile of dust remained on the podium next to the Grid.

***

A seneschal handed Avallac'h the results as sat in the confines of the isolation room. Maondine had come midway through the trial dressed seductively and waited with the sage in the hopes of celebration. Avallac'h removed the wax seal and opened the clean, crisp paper. He placed it down after reading the results.

"Well, are we free of her?" Maondine asked practically with glee.

“She predicted every teleportation perfectly and precisely wrong.”

Maondine held back a snide smile. “So, the Seidhe is perfectly and precisely an idiot?”

Avallac'h looked at her, amazed at her stupidity. “On the contrary. Her answer was always a mirror mapping of the correct result. The council “finds her understanding adequate and do not see it fit to have her displaced.” She has made it quite clear what she thinks of the trial. Showing that she not only does she understand teleportation, but also, refused to play the their game.”

***  
Iespeth felt peaceful as she walked through the arched hallway having left the court room.  Euphoric even. Her blissful rapture was only broken by the king's hand grabbing at her shoulder.

She wheeled around meeting the eyes of the rather perturbed king.

"That was very clever," he said, his irritation clear. "You made a mockery of that trial, the sages. Me! Did you plan this with your master? Was it his idea?"

"My dear Ge'els," she began, taking his hand. "My handsome tulip. It was never my intention to make a mockery of you. If I'm being honest, I was tempted. Tempted to fail that test. Truly. The days I spent with you certainly meant more to me than just passing the time. But we both know that a man of your cunning and position does not intervene in such precarious matters out of altruism. Nor did you did you come to care for a stray Seidhe in the few days we spent together. And with that I shall take my leave."

She left a long kiss upon his hand as he had done to her without breaking eye contact.

Ge'els felt a stirring in his pants. His anger had dissipated. This was the second time he'd felt physically attracted to her and part of him was now drawn to more than just the carnality of it. As she released his hand he moved close to her. He could feel the heat radiating from her as he neared. He bent down towards her now feeling engulfed in her scent as if she had entranced him by an aura.

Iespeth placed her finger just where his clavicles met and pressed gently.

"It's time my master and I be going. Until we meet again, my liege."

Iespeth turned to leave. The king wanted to return her facing him and place his lips over hers. But it would have been too improper. Besides, he now saw a looming figure at the end of the hallway. Ge'els hoped the sage had seen how close he had been to his apprentice's lips if only to take one last jab before she left with her master.

Avallac'h waited at the end of the hallway for Iespeth. He eyed the king something menacing, watching him so close to those emerald gems. At least they were safe from him for now. The connection of apprentice and master had been established and reinforced. No one could question it now. And what's more, she had chosen him. He didn't understand why as he hadn't been particularly inviting, but she had, nonetheless.

They walked silently through the moon and orb lit streets of Tir na Liá. Iespeth could feel the Aen Saevherne look over at her periodically though his eyes were veiled by the overhang of his cowl.

"Why did you not tell me?" he finally asked.

She looked at him and shook her head slightly.

"If only I had known-"

"Avallac'h I-" Iespeth interupted. She wasn't sure what to tell him. Her foresight hadn't brought her this far. She was forbidden from telling the entire truth. And even if she could she hardly thought it wise. A half-truth then. It was an inate ability she had. Nothing more. But then intrigue would arise. He would want to develope her talents. See why she could do the things she could. This answer seemed unwise too.

She stopped in the shadow of a flowering trellis and turned towards him.

"Avallac'h, there are subjects I know you do not wish to discuss," she began, referring to Lara Dorren. "Please accept that this is one of those subjects for me."

Avallac'h stopped and studied her face for a moment. He moved towards her authoriatively. "I will agree to let you discuss this in your own time if you answer me one question."

Iespeth felt the tension rise in her stomach as the powerful elven sage loomed over her. She feared what he might ask.

"Why?"

"Why what?" she asked unsure of what he was getting at.

"Why did you chose to stay with me?"

She let out a silent sigh of relief.

"From what I've discerned about you lot, you sages that is, is that you covet knowledge. It is your currency, your power. So much so that you jealously guard it," she explained truthfully.

Avallac'h pondered what she meant. "Is that why you decided to stay with me? For protection?"

"In a sense. Better the devil you know than the one you do not."

Avallac'h was hurt by this comparison but he did not let it show. He moved away from her and resumed their course home in utter and tensioned silence.


	6. Chapter 6

Avallac'h sat in a large chair situated in the corner of his laboratory. It allowed him a overview of alembics, reagent glasses, burners, fixtures holding lenses of various curvature, tables littered with vellums and scrolls covered in mathematics and formulae. He could see the large bookcases containing his rather vast personal collection of literature ranging in topic from the theory of long range teleportation to the activation of dormant genes. This was his haven, his sanctuary where he spent much of his time.  
  
He rested his elbows on the arm rests and held his fingers laced together in front of his face. The events of the past weeks had taken their mental toll on him, though he wished to go over every detail. His mind never took kindly to rest when information needed to be analyzed.  
  
Everything he had assumed had been wrong. He thought Iespeth was just some Seidhe, ignorant and talentless. Some stray that Zirael had picked up in her need to protect the weak.  
  
He thought it had been coincidence that she looked much like the one he had loved so dearly. The first time he looked into her eyes and remembered feeling what it was like to be wholly in love he had erected a barrier. He knew his attraction was that void left from Lara's departure and subsequent death. There was no point in forming an attachment because some she-elf resembled The Gull. Though each time Iespeth looked at him he attempted to strengthen that barrier as if those emerald eyes desired to chip away at its foundation. Each time he saw similarities between the two that he couldn't ignore and now some similarities were glaring. He was no longer sure how much of his feelings were just some reminiscence of the one he had lost or a genuine affection for this living, flesh and blood woman.  
  
He also contemplated whether Iespeth contained the Hen Ichaer. Was it possible? It couldn't be. He and he alone had come to understand that that blood, that gene and the abilities that lie within existed for one purpose. To destroy the White Frost. It could be used to conquer worlds and ensure the supremacy of those who possessed it, but that would have only delayed the inevitable annihilation of all life. Once Avallac'h had come to understand this, he knew the importance of protecting and helping Zirael do what she had done.  
  
Whether the gene had been given to the elves by gods or having simply randomly manifested by fate one couldn't say. Avallac'h had once believed that past elven sages, wise as they were, had laid the foundations for the gene and that he himself had honed it. For it was he that had advised Auberon Muirchetach to couple with Shiadhal and produced Lara Dorren.  
  
He wondered if there was some branch of Lara's tree that he had overlooked. Some dalliance that had gone undetected. It was not possible. Avallac'h had been exceedingly meticulous in tracking the gene's propagation despite meddling from other sources.  
  
Then what was he missing. Who is she? How, with no training, could she have known so much about the portals put forth in her examination?  
  
Avallac'h heard the faint pitter-patter of footsteps coming down the steps to his sanctuary. To his utter surprise when he looked up, it was the devil of whom he thought.  
  
"Iespeth?"  
  
She smiled at him and thumbed a scroll with a formula establishing the relationship between trigonometric functions and complex exponential functions. "So this is where you toil at all hours of the night?"  
  
Avallac'h looked at her betraying nothing of his thoughts. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"I feel like we've gotten off to a rough start," she said while looking at sketch depicting the unit complex number. "I thought it might be best if we had a less antagonistic relationship. I figured I'd have to be the one to extend the olive branch." She had moved closer to him and he could smell her natural fragrance. "You don't seem the type for olive trees," she added with a smirk.  
  
"What do you suggest then?" he asked.  
  
She shrugged in mock innocence and stepped closer. She was wearing a long dressing robe of thin fabric which clung to her hips.  
  
Avallac'h furrowed his brow in suspicion and glanced at the only door to his lab.  
  
"Maondine is out. Though I could lock it if it concerns you?" she said.  
  
"Why would you lock it?" he asked rhetorically raising an eyebrow.  
  
Iespeth pulled the corresponding foot rest away from Avallac'h's knees and as she did he saw a hint of her small breasts peak out of the overlapped robe. He looked away.  
  
She sat down and crossed her legs. "I know you don't hate me. I understand me coming here wasn't necessarily easy for you. And you being a Knowing One were probably not prepared for that surprise. Surprises, I take it, are not something you enjoy."  
  
"I cannot say that I do."  
  
"How unfortunate for me. It's worth a shot in any case." With that she leaned forward and kissed him. She drew back slowly waiting for a response.  
  
Avallac'h felt a rush of emotions. He needed to think, but she was moving away. She was right, surprises were not something he enjoyed. Though in control of his hands which were clenched firmly to the arm rests, the rest of his body made the decision for him. He leaned forward and returned her kiss.  
  
Iespeth smiled into Avallac'h's unsure eyes. She put her hands gently on his face and kissed him deeply.  
  
Avallac'h stifled a grimace when she took her hands away. But then he had to stifle a smile when she began rubbing them on his body.  
  
Iespeth tugged at any button or sash she could get her callused fingers on. Nothing about his clothes were straightforward. She giggled in frustration at making practically no progress.  
  
"Perhaps if you stand?" she gestured sweetly, motioning him to rise.  
  
Avallac'h rose slowly from his chair keeping his eyes locked on the few parts of naked body that peaked out from her unfastened robe. As she moved towards him, hands ready to disrobe him, he stopped her and betrayed a mischievous smile. His intricate tunic and hood seemingly dissolved with a wave of his fingers and he was naked.  
  
Pleased with this new development Iespeth stepped closer. She reached out, her hand a mere touch away from his skin as if to ask if she could feel him. He took her hand alleviating her trepidation and kissed it gently. She quivered faintly.  
  
"Have you never done this before?" Avallac'h asked. He wasn't particularly fond of sex with virgins, but would never deny her.  
  
She took her hand away and placed it on his breast."Of course I have. It's just...well, the circumstances are a bit peculiar don't you think?" she stated, moving closer to him.  
  
_Peculiar indeed._  
  
She walked around to his back tracing a tattoo that ran down his buttocks.  
  
He declined to answer her question not wanting to give her a reason to stop. He let out a slight moan as she tickled his cheeks with her spry touch.  
  
Once her inspection was complete she stood before him. With a single finger she pushed him commandingly backwards until he was sitting in his chair again. She slipped off her robe and straddled the elven sage.  
  
As she slid onto him she curled her body over his and let out a low moan enjoying his entrance into her. She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment to regain her composure and began rocking back and forth. Avallac'h assisted her by placing his hands on her hips.  
  
Iespeth began to grind herself roughly against him searching for his pelvic bone to help herself climax but the chair's geometry prevented Avallac'h from adjusting to a more complimentary angle for the pleasure of his lover. He placed two fingers between her and himself to enhance her pleasure. He felt her wetness that had escaped their pairing smeared licentiously across his pubic area. He wanted to taste her but couldn't bear pulling away from her in even the slightest.  
  
He couldn't believe this was happening. He thought she loathed him and he couldn't blame her. He had been nothing but cold towards her and she must not have understood why.  
  
He had wanted to be kind to her but the circumstances couldn't afford him that. His peers would judge him, his rivals would sneer and mock him. His G'ymar, whose feelings he did care for in his own special way, would of course disapprove. He thought he could minimize the damage by quietly placing Iespeth elsewhere and then reestablishing contact with her from a different angle. Ge'els, that meddling fuck, had made that impossible. He wondered if he had known from the beginning that she had a talent for time and space or whether he just wished to toil with Avallac'h.  
  
The sage couldn't resist any longer. He wouldn't pretend like he wasn't interested, like she meant nothing to him. He picked her up without breaking their connection and flayed her on the parchment covered table, math be dammed.  
  
He vigorously took her releasing what he had wanted to do to her for a long time. He peppered her breasts with messy kisses alternating between long, wet mouthfuls to short, aggressive bites like the shot of an arbalest. He ran his hands with rigor up and down her body lingering for long periods where it made her moan the hardest.  
  
He wanted to do everything to her, make her scream, make her shudder, peak and tremble, beg him for more till she was too exhausted to stand. He wanted her to cuddle up afterwards to his rune-marked body and listen as she cooed and whimpered in her sleep.  
  
He continued making love to her not wanting it to end. Her strong hands gripped his buttocks demanding each time he enter harder and faster. When she tensed up seemingly frozen in ecstasy he felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction particularly when her cunt involuntarily clenched down on him repetitiously like the pulsating of a heart. He certainly would not need long now that his lover was satisfied and as she relaxed he continued thrusting.  
  
The crashing came loudly just before he came. Avallac'h's eyes shot open. His clothes were on and he was still in his chair. Iespeth was no where to be seen.  
  
Of course it was a dream. He wasn't sure when he had dozed off. Usually when a devoted mood for work struck him as it had that evening he put up a field to prevent disturbances. It was unlikely that Iespeth could have found a way in. Nonetheless he felt anger towards her as if she had done him a great wrong. He asserted the logical side of his brain to wrangle his feelings of hurt and dismay that she hadn't come to tell him she cared for him.  
  
He reached into his pants and quickly alleviated his lingering erection. Once he'd cleaned himself up he made his way up to the main level of the house.  
  
The flickering light pouring out from the main library caught his eye. He peered in and saw Iespeth sitting there as she often was since her return surrounded by tomes, scrolls, books, and texts. Looking at her he wasn't sure whether he was more ashamed or disappointed that what had occurred in his lab was a just dream.  
  
Iespeth looked up and caught his gaze.  
  
"Avallac'h? Could I speak with you for a moment?"  
  
Avallac'h swallowed the lump in his throat. He pulled up a seat as close as necessary for a conversation but no closer. His feelings were still raw and he wasn't sure what she might say.  
  
"How old are you?" she asked.  
  
Avallac'h furrowed his brow. "That is quite a personal question don't you think? Why do you ask?"  
  
"I don't mean it to be personal. I wish to establish that you have been around for quite some time. Know quite a bit of the Aen Elle and their history don't you?"  
  
"I do."  
  
"When was the last time a child was born here?"  
  
Avallac'h was stunned by the question. It was also a rather sore subject amongst the Aen Elle.  
  
"Why do you ask such a question?" he asked, glancing at the tome she had opened before her. The _Epigenetic inheritance and prions._  
  
"It is vital. Are there records perhaps of children and their parents?"  
  
"Records there are. But they are not for you to see. We Aen Saevherne saw fit to hide that information. It was for the best interest of all parties involved when a child was born."  
  
"Well, I think it's important that I do see them," she insisted.  
  
"I doubt that. It would not be wise. The privacy of our citizens is quite important. It must be protected. The people entrusted the Aen Saevherne with keeping of that knowledge. We use it when we must."  
  
"Use it? What do you mean?"  
  
"Why for purposes of procreation of course."  
  
"Are you-? Do you mean to tell me that the Aen Saevherne choose who gets to have children with who?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I see." Iespeth contemplated for a moment. "I suppose my original question remains. Where are these children?"  
  
Avallac'h's look of sorrow was obvious. "The last child was born 300 years ago. He was the product of two of our finest possessing the qualities most coveted by our kind. He turned out a dead end. Now he makes food in the Talon District I believe."  
  
"I suspected as much," she replied, contorting her face.  
  
"Why such a sudden interest in fertility? I believe it would be a more appropriate use of our time to explore your recently displayed talents," Avallac'h interjected.  
  
"No. No it wouldn't when no one is having children."  
  
"I appreciate your concern, but a solution is in the works by those with far more experience and knowledge. I doubt this issue could be solved by an apprentice such as yourself."  
  
"And tell me, have you -I assume you consider yourself one with 'far more experience and knowledge'- have you solved the problem? Where are the children, or at least the pregnant women? Which two elves did you command to fuck this time?"  
  
Avallac'h glared at her.  
  
"You see-" she continued "that's the problem with Aen Elle culture. You strive for perfection and leave everything up to experts to achieve that perfection. I'm sure it worked for a while, yes, but you are trying to control boundless, unending chaos. You assume that you have the wisdom and command of the information of the universe to perfectly predict the future. To outwit the nature of existence. But you've lost innovation.  
The night I left this manse I stumbled upon a tavern. I suspect the man serving the food was the exact same 'child' you spoke of. I was hungry and he had nothing to give me because all the food had been planned out to the very last morsel. The same twenty some odd elves have been going there for I don't know how long, eating the same amount every day. In the palace the king showed me beautiful things, yet it was clear he had seen every statue, building, painting and performance a hundred times over. He showed me one of his own paintings he'd done not too long ago and do you know what it said to me? 'Im bored. I want something new.' And that is what you need. Now where was I when I started this diatribe?"  
  
"Fertility."  
  
"I think we need more information."  
  
Avallac'h gestured at his extensive bookcase. "There are more in my study. Some penned by myself, some older than you or I. I assume you can speak the Laith aen Undod?" he asked mockingly.  
  
Iespeth ignored this quip. "We need data. New data," Iespeth insisted.  
  
"I fear I will not approve, " answered Avallac'h.  
  
She now looked timidly at him."I need blood samples. From Seidhe."  
  
Avallac'h sighed. Then he thought for a moment. This could be more than data collection. The sages had already experimented with tweaking the genes of fertilized embryos and had made headway with artificial impregnation. Perhaps if they introduced a Seidhe strain of genetic material to the gene pool it would be possible. They could weed out undesirable traits and optimize for intelligence, magical ability, and physical capability. On top of that, traveling to the Continent would give him some time alone with Iespeth away from the prying eyes of Ge'els and the jealous ones of Maondine.  
  
"I would need your help." Iespeth continued, trying to sound as respectful and convincing as possible. "First to get to the Continent, then to take the samples. I'm afraid I'm not very experienced with the more practical side of research. I know nothing about a lab, save the bit I learned about Witcher's brews at Kaer Morhen. And even then, I broke enough equipment to warrant a walloping or two from Lambert."  
  
Avallac'h studied her for a good while. He then stood up. "I suppose if we are to keep up appearances then you should learn your way around a lab. Come with me."  
  
“Is that a yes?” she asked following him out of the library. She’d hand’t expected to him to be agreeable so quickly.  
  
The sage led her down to his lair below the manse. They took a long, narrow, stone stair case, the width allowing only one person at a time, down to Avallac'h's lab.  
  
"I suppose it would be prudent to begin preparing for our journey then. In the cupboard just there are glass vials. We'll need 100 of them. Labeled and cleaned. There is ethanol in that flask. Use it to disinfect each vial then seal them with wax" he instructed, pointing out the necessary equipment.  
  
"What will you be doing?" she asked, excited.  
  
"Mapping our route to the world of the Seidhe."  
  
***  
  
It was a fortnight before they could leave. The evening of the new moon was when the passageway was scheduled to open. Iespeth stood at Avallac'h's side, bow slung across her back and blades strapped to her belt. She felt more comfortable out of a dress and in her pants and leather vest.  
She also held a leather satchel filled with tiny vials and parchment.  
  
The stone archway stood cold and lifeless like an ancient monument long forgotten.  
  
"Do you know how these gateways work?" Avallac'h asked his apprentice.  
  
She looked at him coyly and shook her head. A furtive smile escaped her lips.  
  
He mentally took a note of this and drew his eyebrows close. "Hmm," was all he let out.  
  
Within seconds the arch began to glow and the edges of the stone turned a medley of yellow, red, blue and purple like steal being annealed. The two elves felt the forceful pull of the portal.  
  
"Are you ready?"  
  
Iespeth pulled her cowl over her head carefully covering her ears.  
  
"I think so," she answered.  
  
"Very well." Avallac'h stepped into the portal followed by his emerald-eyed apprentice.  
  
***  
  
"The air is rather foul here. Does it not bother you?" Iespeth asked, crinkling her nose.  
  
"Certainly. Though I dare say not as much as you," replied Avallac'h.  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Because the females of our kind have a rather acute sense of smell. Did you not know?"  
  
"I haven't spent all that much time amongst elves. I thought it was just me."  
  
"It is said that the guerrilla units of the Seidhe, the Squirrels, value women in their ranks because of this fact. A female scout, nose keen as a bear, is worth more to them than weapons in a commando."  
  
"It is said? Or do you know for a fact?" Iespeth asked, wishing to clarify.  
  
Avallac'h looked at her incredulously.  
  
"Hardly relevant now. The Scoia’tael are practically no more. Let us move on. The streets of Novigrad are amongst the most dangerous for us and I'd prefer not to linger."  
  
They were fortunate they had arrived in the dead of night even though parts of the city never slept. Taverns where the less reputable congregated to carry out their business of gambling, drinking, whoring, and brawling were frequent in the city of Novigrad.  
  
They moved from one dark alley to the next carefully avoiding the feces and piles of refuse that lined the streets.  
  
Iespeth was surprised at how silently Avallac'h could move despite him being of a more academic nature. She watched the tall, elegant sage place his feet in a meticulous manner one after the other hardly making a sound.  
  
"Avallac'h?" she called to him in a whisper. "Can you not just teleport us out of here?"  
  
"The ability I do have, but teleportation is hardly a subtle magic. I'd like not to attract the attention of any mages."  
  
"Mages? I thought the north eradicated anyone with even a hint of magic use."  
  
"Mmm. That they did openly. Though they likely kept a few sorcerers on hand whose loyalty they could ensure."  
  
"I see."  
  
They kept silent till they were outside the city walls where mostly barren fields laced the surrounding land. Spots of ragweed or clumps of wood sorrels dotted the earth. Occasionally there was a pitiful field of barley or rye. Hardly a yield large enough to support such a large city.  
  
"So where do you plan to find your specimens?" Avallac'h asked once they were in a safer area.  
  
"I thought that was obvious. Dol Blathanna of course.”  
  
"Might I suggest an alternative?"  
  
Iespeth raised her eyebrows in anticipation.  
  
"There is an island of Skellige where elves have settled. It might be more discreet. There are an adequate amount of Seidhe there from which to collect. In Dol Blathanna, though the elves may be plentiful, an Aen Elle sage would certainly attract the attention of the queen or at least her retinue of mages."  
  
Iespeth frowned. The truth was that she didn't return to collect samples and analyze data. She came for something else. She needed to find or construct a situation in which Avallac'h could hardly refuse.  
  
She swallowed the lump in throat and did her best to look obedient. "Well then, let us get on to Skellige.”  
  
***  
  
"I'll be fine. Thanks for asking, O kind Master. Your words alone are a comfort to my stomach," Iespeth sarcastically quipped as she wiped the vomit from her mouth.  
  
"I did not wish to hurt your pride. You seemed so pleased and in your element. How did you put it? Ah yes, 'roughing it.' I hardly think to take that away from you. Me, 'an elf accustomed to luxury: fine, soft beds, warm baths, an unending summer. Plenty of warm meals to satiate my belly.' I couldn't possibly cope as well as a hardened Seidhe."  
  
Iespeth leaned back over the side of the ship and dry heaved. There was nothing left to come out.  
  
"Why couldn't you have just opened a portal?"  
  
"And miss out on my apprentice's stimulating conversation? I wouldn't dare," he stated hiding the truth behind a mocking tone.  
  
Iespeth glared at him. "In all seriousness," she said clenching the wooden taffrail, "why couldn't we go there via teleportation?"  
  
"You certainly are persistent on the topic of travel by portal aren’t you? Perhaps you are aware, portals leave rather telling trails. The last thing we need is human mages sniffing around where they don't belong. I haven't been to these Isles in some time and don't know what to expect. I'd rather not just appear in the unknown. Besides, we are here."  
  
"Where is here?"  
  
"The Kaer Trolde Harbor of course."  
  
The deck of the _Artreth_ became a symphony of pulleys and sails, of sailors screaming loudly and commands being followed. The oars where brought out to navigate the ship safely into the harbor.  
  
Once the gangway had been extended to the dock Avallac'h dropped a pouch of gold into the hand of the captain. The man was large but standing next to the elven sage looked average of height and thick of bone.  
  
"Twenty gold pieces as agreed, for your silence and service," Avallac'h said.  
  
The rough looking captain took a piece out, bit it and grinned. "Welcome to Skellige!" he said with a peculiar accent now standing to the side to let the two pass.  
  
Iespeth followed the hooded sage down the gangway ever so happy to be on solid land. She looked around at the people of the Isles, a people born and bred for the sea. A fisherman's wife sold necklaces made of seashells, conches, and sand dollars as her husband loaded his days catch of his boat. Two brawlers danced a Walz of fists and fury as they wailed each other only afterwards exchanging a manly hug then collected money amongst the throws of cheers from the small crowd gathered around them. At one point a woman slightly small in stature with an air and attitude greater than the largest man in the port came walking through with shield maidens at her flank. Her red hair was kept in a simple braid hanging down her back and her face was slightly scarred. Iespeth figured she must be of importance, though before she could get a better look Avallac'h hurried her along. _This place is familiar to me. I've been here_ , she thought.  
  
"Unless it is warranted, it is the unwise to linger in the presence of so many d'hoine. And best not to stare! It is provoking, especially to a Skelligan," he added, reprimanding her.  
  
"The captain informed me that very few take port on the Isle of Undvik due to it being 'cursed'. The humans here are a superstitious lot. He advised acquiring a scuttle boat or schooner. An hour or two with favorable winds is all it should take he said."  
  
"Why would people here think the Isle is cursed?"  
  
Avallac'h's wasn't sure where to begin. He squinted his eyes as he looked forward into the sun getting lower in the horizon. "Certain events transpired not too long ago on that island. There, just over this hill is a cove. Often times there is a rowboat or scuttle left unattended."  
  
"These events must have been something terrible for a folk such as the Skelligans to leave an entire isle to the elves," she asked, peaked with curiosity and hoping to stoke the conversation.  
  
"The Ard Gaeth, the ‘great gate’, was opened and a conjunction of spheres began. And before that, an ice giant made its lair here."  
  
"Conjunction of spheres?"  
  
"Yes. Let us talk of it another time. We've barely two hours till nightfall and I hope to have landed on the isle by then. Ah, look. Someone has conveniently left us a mode of transportation," he said pointing to a dingy bobbing about in the now visible cove.  
  
They both climbed in the clunky thing, Iespeth unsure it was water tight. Avallac'h let down the sail. He spoke a few word into the sky and a light breeze picked up forcing the little boat forward.  
  
"That's a clever trick," Iespeth quipped.  
  
Avallac'h smiled and look out across the bow.  
  
"Do you see the island?" he asked after a long silence.  
  
"Yes. What is that large rock jutting out on the right there?"  
  
"That's no rock. It's a gate."  
  
"It seems much bigger than the one we went through?"  
  
"Those are merely passageways. Fit for a handful and requiring an opening or a counterpart at the other end. These gates however where much more. There was once a time when all the gates were wide open and those who knew how could move freely among worlds. It is how the Aen Elle ended up where they are now."  
  
"What happened to the gates?"  
  
"They fell into disrepair. Or where damaged from misuse or catastrophe. To my knowledge Tor Tor Gvalch’ca is the last functioning gate on this world." Using the gate’s proper name left a stinging in Avallac'h’s mind. Tor Gvalch’ca. Gate of the Gull.   
  
"Can you open this one? This Tor Gvalch’ca?"  
  
"Hmm. Not quite. Think of a locked door. One needs a key to unlock it, but to open it one needs force. A small door need a small force. Now imagine the large door to the main hall at Kaer Morhen?"  
  
"I hated that thing. It bruised my shoulder once too many a time," Iespeth revealed, rubbing her arm in remembrance.  
  
"Akin to that door. I have a key but not the power to open such a gate."  
  
Iespeth smiled at him. She liked this new accord they now had between them. Though he still seemed distant, the sage at least seemed a bit jovial outside of his home environment. Iespeth was pulled from her contemplations by a beautiful singing. She looked around for the source.  
  
It was coming from below. She looked out into the froth and fervor of the choppy waters and saw the head of something human-like popping up here and there. A few began swimming closer occasionally breaching the water slipping in and out of the boisterous blue. They had long tails like that of a slender fish and the upper body of young beautiful women.  
  
Iespeth felt compelled by their song yet a firm discipline kept her in the creaky boat.  
  
"What are they?" she asked.  
  
"Did the Witcher's teach you nothing?" Avallac'h asked reprimandingly.  
  
"A mere winter at a Witcher's fortress is hardly enough time to learn of all the wonders of the world. You of all should know that," Iespeth retorted in defense.  
  
Avallac'h inclined his head yielding her point. "They are sirens. They sing their song of seduction and lure sailors to their deaths. A unlearned, hungry man long at sea is easy to deceive."  
  
"Why would hunger play a role?"  
  
"Not hungry for food. For sex," he corrected bluntly.  
  
Iespeth let out a small smile at the mention of the carnal act. It had been long since she'd been with a man and the mere utterance sent a spark through her loins. She looked at the sage commanding the helm wondering for a moment what he might look like naked then shook her head surprised at herself.  
  
Avallac'h usually annoyed by Iespeth's ignorance was now tickled. He noticed the slight rouge forming in her cheeks and wondered what she was thinking. His thoughts were drawn back to the sea as the song grew louder. "Once close enough the sirens will attack. They feed gladly on fresh flesh: humans and elf alike."  
  
Iespeth pulled her bow close and reached for an arrow.  
  
"Don't bother," Avallac'h commanded with an outstretched hand. "There are more peaceful weapons."  
  
“Is that not a contradiction?” she gibed.  
  
Avallac'h pulled out a long, wooden flute and began a somber, melodious tune. The sirens gathered together and listened to the sage play his song.  
  
Iespeth watched, impressed with the sage's alternate way of handling such dangerous creatures. She had known mostly violence in her short life. She took her hand from her bow and felt one of her many scars of battle, knotted and twisted. She felt a certain weight lifted has Avallac'h's fingers danced as she sat there in the rocking boat. For the first time she wondered how deep his wisdom went.  
  
Avallac'h continued the tune until they reach the shoal. The sirens no longer followed satisfied with their entertainment.  
  
Once in knee deep water the two elves alighted the boat and dragged it well onto shore to prevent the tide from carrying it away. Dusk had already set in and they began at a brisk pace toward the small settlement.  
  
"Something is amiss," Avallac'h said as they stopped on a small ridge covered in heather.  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
Avallac'h pointed down the slope. "The village is just there."  
  
"Yeah. It appears to still be there," Iespeth replied not sure what he was getting at.  
  
"What is typical of a village just after dusk?"  
  
Iespeth thought for a moment. "There is no light?"  
  
Avallac'h nodded. "Come. Let us look for signs of trouble."  
  
He gripped his staff and Iespeth nocked an arrow. They crept down the hill approaching the buildings with caution. A few crickets and the crash of waves on the not so distant beach could be heard as darkness crept over the island. Iespeth began to find the sound familiar as certain memories resurfaced. A few more paces and they would be amongst the cheaply, thrown together houses.  
  
"Get behind me," Avallac'h demanded.  
  
"Why?" she replied in a whisper.  
  
"If something dangerous is there it is the safest place for you."  
  
"What if something comes from behind? Or what if I get startled and release my arrow into the back of your head? Then we are up shit stream!"  
  
"What? Never mind. Then put your bow down, I'm perfectly-"  
  
"And be defenseless? No, no, no. Have you ever even seen battle? Been in a fight? I think it's best I stay armed. You mage types seem pretty squishy."  
  
"Have you-? Do you even-?" Avallac'h was at a loss for words. A look of exasperation contorted his face. If he were truly concerned he would have been much more stern and commanding with her, but he didn't get that certain predictor vibe that one sensed when danger was truly close at hand. "Fine. For the sake of not getting shot in the head by my own apprentice, why don't you stand beside me?"  
  
"But then our flank is left uncovered."  
  
Avallac'h glared at her.  
  
"Ok, ok! I'll stand at your side. I'll try to sniff out anything coming from behind with my womanly nose." Iespeth took position beside the sage. They walked this way through the village looking through every house. Avallac'h summoned a minor light from his staff to examine the inside.  
  
"Avallac'h?" Iespeth said as they stood before what appeared to be a tavern.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I don't think anything bad happened here."  
  
"What makes you say that?" He had concluded the same three searched houses ago but curious as to her reasoning.  
  
"Well," she began, lowering her bow, "the houses are still in tact if not a bit worn by the weather. Nothing is ransacked or upturned. Everything looks as if it were neatly cleaned out and taken."  
  
"Excellent deduction. Bravo!"  
  
Iespeth couldn't tell if he was mocking or congratulating her. "Besides, last I was here many of the elves were heading to Dol Blathanna. Perhaps they went there."  
  
"You were here?”  
  
“Not here here,” she nervously clarified. “I mean on this world.”  
  
“Hmm. Perhaps they did. We best sleep here then. And tomorrow we make our way to Dol Blathanna."  
  
Avallac'h slept poorly that night. It wasn't the bed with a mattress filled of old, mildewed straw, nor was it the creaking house.  
  
Avallac'h felt a pull out of bed. He wrapped his cloak tightly around himself and laced up his leather boots. He thought a bit of fresh, sea air might sooth his mind so he stepped out for a bit of a stroll. _What was he doing here? Why was he here with this Seidhe?_ he asked himself. _What are you hoping for?_  
  
He saw her skimp away, barefooted and beautiful.  
  
"Avallac'h!" she called, her black hair fluttering in the wind.  
  
The mage couldn’t believe his eyes but his senses insisted.  
  
"Lara!"  
  
"Avallac'h" she repeated.  
  
Avallac'h found himself moving faster and faster yet unable to reach her.  
  
"Come find me!" she called no longer in sight.  
  
"Lara! Where are you?"  
  
She giggled and her voice surrounded him. "You know where to find me."  
  
The sage looked up and saw the gate atop the peak. When he looked down he saw his foot climb each step. He was nearly there. He began taking the steps in strides of two hoping to catch her before she left.  
  
She stood there calmly as Avallac'h made his way up the last of the winding stairs. She opened her arms to him beckoning to come.  
  
He dropped to his knees and embraced her where she stood. She held his head to her stomach.  
  
"I've been so lost without you. You were my greatest gift and I lost you!" he cried.  
  
Lara lifted his face to hers. "But you found me!"  
  
The sage nodded as tears ran down his cheeks.  
  
She moved away from him though he tried to hold her close.  
  
"Lara, please don't leave." He began to hear his name being called from everywhere.  
  
"I must," she said. "Vaʼesse deireádh aep eigean, vaʼesse eigh faidhʼar."  
  
Lara began to glow. Her skin slowly flaked away leaving a bright mass, a ball of pure energy.  
  
Avallac'h screamed. "Lara! LARAAA!"  
  
"Avallac'h? Are you alright?"  
  
The sage's eyes shot open and he saw those emerald eyes. He reached out to touch the face to which the eyes belonged only to realize who it was. He jerked his hand back in utter disappointment.  
  
"Get out," was all he said coldly.  
  
The next morning Iespeth awoke to find Avallac'h gone. She walked out of the largest house which they had arbitrarily chosen to sleep in that night. As she stepped out into the brightly shining sun she looked around. She had been here before.  
  
Iespeth reached into her satchel and pulled out an amulet. It had small jewels covering the surface of which some lit up in a particular section. Iorveth had given it to her that day she battled at his side on the boarders of Dol Blathanna. It was no ordinary trinket, but one that detected elves in the vicinity. She knew exactly where Avallac'h had gone.  
  
She climbed the steps to gate remembering how cold her feet where back then when she had first arrived here. She spotted Avallac'h sitting in the middle kneeling and whispering. His hands moved about as if he'd been casting a spell. Iespeth wondered why he was here and what he now knew.  
  
The sage turned to her. "I was hoping you would sleep longer," he said rising slowly. "This place holds significance yet, though I cannot fathom why." Avallac'h turned and walked towards Iespeth. He stopped an arms length from her as if he would be burnt were he to move any closer. He shook his head at her. "The universe is certainly a cruel mistress. Dangling memories around like toys!" He looked directly at Iespeth and scoffed.  
  
Avallac'h hardened his heart determined to remember Lara as she was and prevent this impostor from filling the voids that she had left. This Seidhe was not her and never would be despite the strongest parallels they shared.  
  
"Come. We've work to do," he said coldly. He opened a portal a few meters away.  
  
"But I thought...you said-"  
  
"I know precisely what I said. I have a laboratory in Sodden." We'll be closer to Dol Blathanna and waste less time. Get in."  
  
The next two weeks were filled with awkward silences at best and tense reticence at worst. Iespeth wondered what had happened to the sage to alter his attitude so drastically.  
  
"Would you like some supper?" she asked offering him half of a small hare she had roasted on a stick.  
  
He gave her a quick glance. "Leave it just there."  
  
"Please. Leave it just there, please. Or maybe a thank you," Iespeth snapped dropping his meal "just there. You know I find supper nearly every evening. I gather the wood every evening. I make the fire with flint, which by the way is quite tedious, every evening. You're a sorcerer how is it that you can't at least summon a fire or however you conjurers do it. Would save us some time and me some nerves."  
  
"The work builds character. Besides, my thoughts are preoccupied with something more pressing," he replied stoically.  
  
"Such as?"  
  
"You could not possibly understand."  
  
Iespeth scoffed. "Couldn't possibly understand? The reason why no one could possibly understand you sorcerers is because you never even try to explain. How would you know if-"  
  
"You forget your place, apprentice!" he interjected sternly. "Accept that it is a private matter and leave me be."  
  
Iespeth didn't understand. She wanted to slap him, or shake him. Anything to get him to at least communicate. He was preoccupied with his own thoughts and would not relent. She sat across the fire from him watching as the flames danced across his face. It was clear he was avoiding looking at her. She took out her amulet and began to fumble it from one hand to the other until she noticed that some of the jewels were lighting up. _An elf? Out here?_  
  
She grabbed her bow and took off into the dark of the woods.  
  
Iespeth came upon a clearing in the forest. The moon shone rather brightly here. She watched patiently knowing there was an elf somewhere near. First she heard and then saw it. It began with a quiet sobbing drawing Iespeth's eyes to wide trunk of a elder tree. There sat, with her arms around her knees, a she-elf ragged and scared.  
  
Iespeth smiled knowing that this was exactly what she was looking for.  
  
"And why did you go running off into the forest?" came the whisper from behind.  
  
Iespeth barely turned. She reached up and grabbed Avallac'h by the sleeve beckoning him to squat down next to her.  
  
"It's an elf," she explained.  
  
"Yes, I can see that," he replied.  
  
"Well, she is obviously in trouble. We should help her."  
  
"We have other engagements."  
  
Iespeth looked at him in awe her eyes shimmering in the moon light. She stood up as if he'd said nothing and went out into the clearing.  
  
The shriveled she-elf didn't see her until she put her hand on her shoulder.  
  
"What are you doing out here in the middle of no where, Sor’ca?"  
  
The small Seidhe woman looked up terrified at first. When she saw that Iespeth was an elf she clung to her waist as a child would its mother. Iespeth embraced the woman in return attempting to be comforting. After a bit she knelt down at eye level to her. "What happened to you?"  
  
"You? I know you! You were there that night. At the old elven ruin on Undvik. My father and those witchers found you!"  
  
Iespeth looked carefully at the woman. She took her hand feeling her.  
  
_Filling in the gaps needed. Eyes, hair, skin pigment just so._ _Form the proteins, make the molecules._  
  
Iespeth hoped that Avallac'h hadn't heard.  
  
"You must be mistaken. I've only just been to Skellige for the first time recently," she lied.  
  
"Oh. It must be my frazzled state. I thought you were someone else. Can you- would you help me?" she stammered.  
  
Iespeth smiled kindly. "Come with us. We've made camp not too far from here. We'll take care of you."  
  
Iespeth led her back to their fire followed by a grumbling Avallac'h. She took his untouched supper, warmed it over the fire and gave it to the stray Seidhe.  
  
"Now, tell me all that happened?" Iespeth asked offering her a sip from her canteen.  
  
The she-elf took a long gulp. "Anything in there stronger than water?"  
  
Iespeth shook her head.  
  
"We've come, well, I've come. I guess it's just me now." She began sobbing. She took a firm grip on the canteen that she was still holding to steady herself and continued her story. "Until recently I lived on the Isle of Undvik in Skellige. It was me and my father. My brother had left us many years ago to fight Nilfgaard's war. We thought him dead. Then he returned."  
  
She smiled remembering the feeling of finding out her brother was alive. Her smile quickly dissipated. "You see, elves have been moving en Masse to Dol Blathanna. It seems they've sent out commandos to help those who could not otherwise make the journey on their own. My brother was in such a commando. I don't think he expected to find us where he did but when he did he insisted we come with him. The journey started well I guess. The Skelligans hate the Northerners so they didn't sell us out. But a storm threw our ship off course. We washed ashore on the west coast of Cintra. We thought we could sneak north and find refuge in Mahakam but we were ambushed in Lyria. It's been two days since we were hunted down. My brother he...he didn't make it. Neither did my father."  
  
The woman gasped for air through her tears. Iespeth sat close to her and held her tightly.  
  
"What's your name?" Iespeth's asked peeling her away from her chest.  
  
"Yaennin."  
  
"Yaennin. That's a lovely name, Yaennin. I'm Iespeth. And this here is Avallac'h. You needn't fear. Avallac'h is a mage. If those humans happen to stumble upon us they will wish fate had better plans for them."  
  
Avallac'h cocked his jaw and raised his eyes as a warning to Iespeth. She paid him no attention.  
  
Yaennin wiped her eyes and thanked them both. "So what are you doing here?"  
  
"Like you, we are immigrating to the new elven state," Avallac'h began.  
  
"Yeah, we started out in Kovir and thought we would sail down to Cintra and take the river east. But the ship's captain tried to sell us to a Northern military vessel to avoid being boarded. You should have seen what Avallac'h did to the captain as well as the military ship. Needless to say the rest of the crew dumped us at the first port and we've had to go at it on foot. Bloede D'hoine!"  
  
"Bloed indeed," Avallac'h declared looking coldly at Iespeth.  
  
The next morning the three rose as the sun peeked over the horizon. Avallac'h took the lead squinting his eyes as he walked in the direction of the sun.  
  
He turned when he only heard the footstep of Yaennin following.  
  
"What is amiss now?" he asked already annoyed.  
  
"Avallac'h, could I have a moment? Just a word?"  
  
He followed Iespeth a few strides away from their new companion.  
  
"I think we should take her with us."  
  
Avallac'h raised his eyebrows.  
  
"It appears as though that is precisely what we are doing."  
  
"No, I mean back home to your- well, I suppose I should say *our* world."  
  
"That is out of the question."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"One Seidhe is enough. When left unsupervised they tend to cause trouble. Violence seems to be their instinctual reaction," he said referring to Iespeth.  
  
"That was different."  
  
"Was it?"  
  
"Yes. Besides, she wouldn't stay with us. I'd find a more suitable place for her. One where she would be ignored by those who matter to you and not ignored by those that could matter to her."  
  
Avallac'h tipped his head in skepticism.  
  
"Look at her," Iespeth whispered, now leaning very close to the sage. She directed his attention towards the Seidhe. "She's thoroughly domesticated. She hasn't been hardened by her experience. She's been traumatized by it. She won't make a journey all the way to Dol Blathanna. And when she gets there, who will care for her? Who will heal her wounds? Look at her there. Small, helpless, trembling. She is no danger. Have some compassion Avallac'h."   
  
Iespeth gazed at him doe-eyed and sorrowful. He felt as if she'd placed a spell on him, as if those emerald eyes had entranced him. He felt the heart he had just vowed to keep hard was softening and that line beginning to blur.  
  
Avallac'h was as stubborn as they came never bending nor breaking. It served him well getting him what he wanted and keeping that which he did not want to give. But for one it was different. He remembered how it was when Lara made requests of him. Somehow convincing him that her idea was best or that her solution was optimal. He started seeing bits and pieces of her in Iespeth apart from the eyes. He often convinced himself that it was merely his heart wishing to ease a certain pain but there were moments when he doubted this logical assertion. He was inclined to acquiesce until...  
  
"If you don't take her back with us, then I will take her there myself," Iespeth threatened.  
  
Avallac'h never took kindly to threats. He pulled himself out of the emerald abyss and reminded himself who was really standing before him. "And just how do you plan to do that, apprentice?" It was clear to the sage that she was no ordinary, gutter elf. She knew things that only the most privileged and gifted of their kind knew, Elle or Seidhe. He wanted to know what else she was hiding as well as demonstrating to her the folly of threatening him. "Will you go to one of the Great Gates and knock just hoping they will open? Perhaps you will summon a Conjunction and allow the winds of the cosmos to take you both to your destination? I've got it. You will open a portal and travel the Spiral like our Navigator cousins?"  
  
"Maybe I will! You don't know what I'm capable of!"  
  
"I know you're capable of wasting time. There is a gate about two weeks journey from here. In six months time that gate shall open again. If you are both there your Seidhe goes to Dol Blathanna and you're going home. If not, I'll assume you found your own way to Tir nà Lia. I will allow you to keep your new companion. Perhaps I'll even introduce her to the King myself," he added, with a mocking chuckle.  
  
The corners of Avallac'h's mouth curved wickedly in satisfaction. He opened the flap of his leather satchel and gingerly reached in. He pulled out a map and unrolled it. "You are here now," he stated, pointing at a location on the map. "You must get here," he instructed showing her where the gate in the ruins of Loc Monduirn was. "I intend to see our task through and if I'm to be at our meeting place punctually I'd best begin immediately." With that Avallac'h opened a portal and was gone.  
  
It took a few minutes for Iespeth to close her mouth. She muttered something that came out as a mixture of 'prick' and 'asshole'. She hadn't really considered the possibility of being denied. She felt frustrated and angry for being limited as she was now. If only she was permitted to teleport she could show that wicked, pompous sage. She cleared her nose and spat out a large wad of mucous where Avallac'h had last stood.  
  
"Well, it's just you and me then," she said returning to Yaennin and doing her best to sound kind.  
  
"Is anything the matter?" she asked.  
  
"No not at all. Just some apprentice/master mage business. Nothing to worry about. Well, I suppose we'd best get a move on," she instructing picking up her bow and slinging it on her back.  
  
"Where are we going?" Yaennin nervously asked.  
  
"Out of these woods for starters."


End file.
